A glimse into Shelby's future

Shelby is my guest blogger today.

My kids are forever the apples of my eye, but the future Shelby envisions for herself is even more wonderful than I would have imagined. She recently won a modest scholarship by writing an essay assuming that she was selected for a "Who's Who" award in her chosen field, and what she would like it to say.

She graduates from high school next week, and I hope all she dreams of comes to pass!

Here is her essay:


A Who's Who Article About Me!

Just the other day, five years after being accepted onto a new team of cardiothoracic surgeons at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, I received a phone call informing me that I had been selected to The Who’s Who Directory of American Medicine. I can assure you, I was quite surprised to hear this news. Most doctors dream of gaining such a prestigious honor throughout their whole career and never get accepted, while I on the other hand am just a “baby” in the world of medicine. I expressed these views with the representative from the directory, and he informed me that I had been chosen due to the experimental surgery I had recently completed that involved the use of a heart valve grown from the new developments in stem cell research. After hearing this and his other arguments in my case, I began to understand a little more why I had been chosen for this award.

The directory representative asked me several questions during the phone call about myself and what I had accomplished in my profession, so that he could compile a complete article for my directory page. This really got me thinking about what I had done in the world of medicine and the impact I had made upon it. I must admit, in the five short years since completing my residency, I have accomplished many things in my career. Not only was I the youngest doctor to ever be placed on a team at The Johns Hopkins; I was also the youngest female to ever work there in the hospital's history. As I elaborated, I became more aware about why they elected me for this status.

From my very first day in medical school, I had a dream to make an impact on the world of medicine. After completing my residency in cardiothoracic surgery, I decided that I would invent a new procedure that would change the way heart surgery itself was viewed. When I first came up with the idea of growing an actual human heart valve from stem cells over twelve years ago, stem cell research was almost a taboo subject. But when the research aspect became available to me, I took it to great lengths, utilizing umbilical stem cells from newborns in order to avoid the use of any fetal tissue. I pioneered not only a new genetic breakthrough, but also the procedure to go with it.

Three hours had gone by the time I finally finished my interview with the man from the directory, and I found myself slightly in awe of my own life's accomplishments. I had been set on becoming a doctor from the time I was six years old, and it just then occurred to me that I really had become the doctor I had always dreamt of being. While I was sitting there, a page for my next heart transplant came in, so I was off and running again. Although my life is currently hectic beyond belief and I have the oddest hours of any other profession I know, I truly feel that I have made a difference, not only in the world of medicine, but in the world itself. I hope this is reflected in what they are writing about me. Now all I have to do is wait and see how the article turns out!