Profile Essay

Profile Essay My best friend Leah Nepomuceno is one of the strongest people I know, especially when it comes to family. Family to her is everything and she has done all she can to try and keep hers together as a whole. We were in sixth grade swinging on the swings outside at recess, whispering and giggling about our usual gossip when she received news from one of our teachers that we knew was serious by the look on her face and fear in her voice. She came up to us and told her she needed to go the office and that she was being dismissed, she gave me permission to walk with her inside. On the short but long felt walk inside Leah's heart was pounding, her hands were sweating, and her eyes were slowly filling with tears. Her mom was sitting in the big, blue, leather office chair with many of our elementary school teachers huddled around her sharing their sincere heart felt sympathy and much needed support. Leah's mom, Deb, had found out that day that her husband Ron, Leah's dad, was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The doctor had told Deb that is was going to slowly take away all of his muscles, eventually killing him and there was no cure for it. This news was heart wrenching for me to hear, since they were my second family, I grew up with them, Ron was my second dad. "It was like the last 11 years of memories with my dad flashed before my eyes and I didn't know what to do besides think of all the things we haven't done that we need to do before he dies," Leah replied when I asked her what her first thought was when she heard the news (Nepomuceno). Just talking to her now about it, 7 years later, is still just as heart breaking and you can hear the sadness in her voice. After the news was out and almost the whole town knew, everyone was willing to help out with what they could since he was slowly starting to lose his legs and would have to be in a wheel chair. They renovated the whole house to accommodate his needs, this was becoming a

Cited: Nepomuceno, Leah. October 12, 2013.