2018 SDBIF Scholarship Recipient Victor Hernandez’s Winning Essay
Hi my name is Victor Hernandez and I am a student at Red Bluff High School. I think I am most rewarding of this scholarship because I have good grades considering my condition. I have a positive attitude and a heartfelt story of how I got my brain injury.
My grades are decent if you consider me a normal student in high school, but for me I think I am doing very well myself. I’ll let you decide. I currently have a 2.8 GPA. I did not anticipate how hard senior year was going to be for me. My GPA is still better than some of my fellow high school students who do not have a disability. I try to do all my work, even still I always seem to fall behind. Past students have said that senior year is to be the easiest of all the high school years, for me I find it the most challenging. I decided to push my limits and take hard classes. I take Physics, Math Analysis (precalculus college level), and American Government.
I am a really happy person with a positive attitude because I already witnessed how low life could bring me and I am very happy knowing that I am at least making progress from then. So that is why I can’t understand when other people say their lives “suck” and that they want to” give up”. I cheer them up by telling them some of my difficulties faced and show them they too can overcome big obstacles in life. I hope it helps them realize through my story how bad life really could be and whatever they are going through can be overcame in time. I do not support suicide as I feel there are many options and ways to get help. “Never give up” like John Cena says.
In September 2009 I was nine years old. I asked my mom if I could ride my bike while waiting to go to open house. I was hit by a speeding SUV at the end of my street. I was thrown 35ft in the air and broke my right leg, all my facial bones ear to ear, my right ear was barley attached, and I had suffered a severe brain injury. I was on life support for almost a month and when I woke up and started to breath on my own I was as my mom says “A vegetable”. I stayed in a vegetative state for almost two months unable to do anything but breath. I was given a G-tube (Gastronomy Tube) to feed me and a Baclofen pump to help me walk again. The help of the doctors like Physical and Occupational Therapist helped me learn to eat and walk on my own again. I had to relearn how to swallow J.gain and later had my G-Tube removed. The doctors told my mom that I would probably not be able to walk or talk again due to my brain injury and I was given a wheelchair and a voice box to use for my future. I did not like the use of the voice box nor did my dog Tucker. I worked my way back up slowly using a walker then a cane. I am proud to say I run cross country now. I concentrated hard one day after 6 months of being unable to speak, I said my dog’s name “Tucker”. Tucker did not respond to the lingraphica machine and this frustrated me, so eventually I developed my own voice to call him. I was never a quitter and have always been determined to succeed, not accepting “I Can’t” as the answer.
I feel very accomplished with what I have achieved, but still I know I will have to conquer many more obstacles. With the help ofthis scholarship it would help me purchase some of the tools I need to succeed. I thank all of the people in my life that have helped me reach this point in my life, and I never plan on settling. I will continue to grow as an individual no matter what obstacles get in the way.
