Congress of Future Medical Leaders Boston Trip

On January 13th, 2020, I received a letter from the Congress of Future Medical Leaders stating they have selected me to represent Idaho by a Doctor from Harvard based on my grades and my career choice to become a Doctor. I will witness a surgery, meet Nobel Peace Prize Winners, Meet with Surgeons and Deans of Medical Colleges, I will receive college credit, Local News Coverage and so much more helping me in my journey to become a Doctor.

 To understand why I chose this profession, I have to go back to July 2016 when, after seeing multiple doctors without finding what was wrong with my body. They sent me to a surgeon Dr. Adrian Curnow. After my 2nd time meeting with Dr. Curnow and a biopsy he did, I finally had an answer.

 The muscles in my stomach were not functioning correctly, my colon had lost its function in the descending colon because of a tear. In an order to save it, we decided that a colostomy bag would be the best option while my muscles were recovering from surgery when the descending colon was removed. The original plan was to have the bag for two months, but that ended up being four due to unseen circumstances. After the bag was removed, that was three surgeries down.

In order to keep my colon functioning, Dr. Curnow gave me an appendicostomy. A tube was inserted into my belly button where my appendix was attached and I had to flush my colon every day. Eventually, my bellybutton closed due to scar tissue. It was shortly after that I was sent over to Seattle Children's Hospital where they performed another procedure in June 2017. It was there that they discovered that my colon was no longer functioning and was essentially asleep.

When we got back to Boise, we spoke with Dr. Curnow and was told we had the option of taking pieces of my colon out or just removing the whole thing. We went with the latter.

 After an 11 hour surgery, I woke up after 45 hours only to throw up and go back to sleep. This recovery was the hardest to recover from.My parents took turns staying with me during each surgery and took time off from work. The shortest stay was 3 days, most were over 7 days. After seven surgeries in under two years, the longest being 13 hours, I thought it was done.

 For two years, my body started to recover until August 25th, 2019. It was around 12 in the afternoon when I started having pains in my stomach. The pain would come and go,  so I didn't think much of it. Then later in the night on my way to Muay Thai class, I began to become extremely nauseous, and the pain started to increase. We had to pull over into a parking lot so my Mom could talk to me and determine if we were going home or the E.R. I couldn't even move without crying. We rushed to the E.R where we discovered that I had an infection in my small intestine, Dr. Curnow informed me I was so dehydrated that if I had gone to my class, I would have risked possibly having a stroke because of my level of dehydration which would have changed my life drastically. Since I no longer have a colon, I have to drink more than a person typically drinks or I risk the chance of having to be admitted for I.V. fluids to get my hydration at a normal level. They admitted me for 3 days to clear up the infection and re-hydrate my body to a safe level.

 I knew I wanted to be in the medical field in my Freshman year when I was fascinated with everything medical. At first, I wanted to be a Forensic Psychologist. When all of my medical issues began, I became more interested in Medicine and how the body works. I ordered books, watched surgeries on YouTube and started studying for medical tests 10 years earlier than needed. 

Doctor Curnow, saved my life in more ways than one and I couldn't be more thankful for him. He is the one who inspired me to fully want a career as a Pediatric Surgeon. He is my Hero and Mentor not only for what he has surgically done but the type of person he is. Humble, kind and funny.

 This opportunity will allow me to meet surgeons who have changed medicine as we know it. And, to hopefully one day, be able to make Dr. Curnow and my family proud while helping children.

I never knew in a million years that I would be given an opportunity likes this by being chose to attend the prestigious Medical event. But, with that comes costs. We have to pay for flights to Boston, transportation and hotels and Boston is not Boise we found out, its very expensive to visit there.

I would appreciate anything you are willing to donate to help get me to Boston to be able to attend the program. I am saving all the money I can make from babysitting but I’m currently taking 8 classes, 3 of them are AP classes so my time is limited. Any donation helps so the burden doesn’t fall entirely on my parents.


 Thank you for taking the time to read this and take care.

Julia