2018 SDBIF Scholarship Recipient Victor Hernandez

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.
 
 

Go Back to the Full List of SDBIF Scholarship Recipients

Serving the Brain Injury Community Since 1983