Personal Satement

Personal Statement
My family depended on me to mature and grow up to being a responsible and dedicated woman for my future. I was born in Dominican Republic, living with my mother, half sister, father, and my brother. At the age of 3, I moved to Miami with my family because of my brother’s health. My father wasn’t able to be around because he had to work in Egypt and Russia. Living in Miami, was a different environment. After we came to Miami my brother was diagnosed with Autism, he was only five. My brother was the external influence that affected me throughout my life. My mother and father separation also affected me not only in my personal life but also in school. My mother became a single parent and worked all the time. I was always out in the street late at night, sneaking out my house, and skipping school. All the frustration of my brother been sick and my father gone was driving me into a deep hole. When he was 11 he suffered a seizure and was diagnosed with epilepsy, like Autism is not bad enough. He was the purpose why I had to grow up and be responsible towards my future. He opened my eyes to realize he might not live long and it all depended on me and my sister. But my sister has a family of her own and she can take the responsibility for my bother if something were to happened to my mother.
On the first hand, when he was diagnosed with Autism, my mom noticed that my brother didn’t have a future for himself. As for my mom and I became challenged, my brother autism was a horrible for my mom to accept, and unbearable to handle. I became so afraid for my brother’s life and well being that I was trying my best to support my mom; she was going through stress and frustration that a mother shouldn’t ever go through with their own child. My half sister was always there to help along the way to support my mother. She was my mother’s main support. She took care of us when my mother was working and breaking her back like a slave. We all were enrolled in school and my mother had to work every day to support us, and as we were suffering with my brothers problems we moved forward. We went from living in a one bedroom apartment to a three bedroom and my mother got her own car. After we move to our new place things changed again with my sister moving out and starting her own family and my mother meeting my step dad who became my mom new support and companion. He helps us become a complete family.
Once I started high school, my mother talked to me about college. To me it meant a lot because it meant I could look forward to my future, since my brother doesn’t have a chance to experience what I can. As well for my half sister, who dropped out of college which like I said before she has a family on her own and is hard for her to go back to finish school. She has fallen in the same trap that most adults fall into. I am the youngest out of my brother and half sister. I slacked most of my high school years even though I tried my hardest to keep my grades up. Recently my brother seizures have gotten more frequent and it’s been hard for us to sleep at night while focusing on him. I sometimes don’t even go to school because I was so tired from helping my mother coop with my brother in the hospital. All I can think while we are going thru all this is that I want to have the future that my bother and half sister can not. I made a promise to my brother and myself that I would start and finish college, so he could be proud of me. I am in my last year of high school and I am getting ready to head out and fulfill my promise to him. I always thought to myself “if you have obstacles, you can always make a positive outcome of them”. I keep it in mind all the time, and I use my brother’s life to reflect upon my future. He would want the best for me, and that’s what I understand. , the choice would always be mine but he is the person that keeps me moving forward into my future.