I would say that looking back at my life, I had many experiences that have shaped me into the person I am today. But the one that I believe has influenced my personal growth as well as inspired my professional quest for knowledge, would be the tragic passing of my beloved maternal grandmother Maria de Jesus. She was an especially important figure in my life because she was the person that raised me, loved me unconditionally, and knew me the best.
Her passing was especially hard for me because it happened at an age when I was already experiencing many difficult changes such as; emigrating to a new country, learning a new language, and adjusting to a new life. Her presence in my life was one of the only comforting and familiar things I had at the time. Having her with me through most of my life and then suddenly not having her at all was a very painful experience to process as a young girl. Her death was caused by complications of being a type 2 diabetic, having hypertension, high cholesterol, a poor diet, a lack of exercise, and toxicity from taking too many prescribed medications that were supposed to help her but instead caused several side effects that prevented her internal organs from doing their natural functions.
Her sudden passing left me feeling hopeless, powerless, depressed, and with much impotence about the way things unfolded and the fact that I could not do anything to change the outcome. My grandma was gone; all I could do was grieve my way and learn how to adjust to a life without her guidance and loving support.
I did not realize it at that time because of the enormous pain I felt when she passed, but this experience left an impression on me. It changed my outlook on life, in a way that motivated me to learn how to better take care of my and my family’s health. This realization did not happen until many years later when I started questioning my life’s purpose, my story, and what I was meant to do.
By doing this internal work and getting to know myself better I learned the profound impact my grandmother’s passing had on me and that I was able to turn her death into motivation for a future career in the health and wellness industry.
That impotence that I felt as a child about not being able to do anything to help her heal and seeing her health deteriorate day by day. Taking the active, independent woman I grew up with and turning her into a fragile, immobile, sickly person that I did not recognize anymore.
That image and those feelings were stuck with me and had unconsciously shaped my view on life, and my beliefs and that inspired my future pursuits to seek an education in the healthcare industry. I was able to turn this negative experience into a driving force that would later come as a gift in disguise when it was time to decide how I wanted to positively contribute to this world. I decided that one way to use this insight is to let it propel me in a meaningful way. I wanted to find a way to not only learn from this experience but use it to make a difference in other people’s lives.
What this experience taught me was that as a society we do not place enough importance on our health and well-being. Often our health comes second or last in our extensive list of priorities. Most people do not realize how vital it is to be in good health. We only realize this when we are already ill, and we cannot ignore it any longer. It is not only a matter of importance but also our health plays a significant role in everything we plan to accomplish in our lifetime. When we are unhealthy, it is almost impossible to live a normal life.
I believe that the way that my grandmother changed from a vibrant woman into a bedridden, ill person is something that can be prevented with a proper diet, adequate exercise, eliminating stress, increasing our water intake, and many other healthy habits that are key to maintaining good health and longevity. This is why I became so passionate about helping others better their health because although I was not able to help my grandmother when I was a child, I can help many other women like her that do not have the proper tools, the knowledge and that will find themselves in the same situation as my grandmother, that trustingly left her health in the hands of a health care system that failed her and caused her death instead of healing her.
After years of studying and researching health, disease, and prevention. It became clear to me the main problems in our society are the magnitude of health disparities that minority groups are faced with.
Minority groups of black and Latino communities have less access to quality health care, nutritious food, clean water, and other resources that would make it possible to live a healthy lifestyle. Women like my grandmother do not have the proper tools and assistance to make well-informed decisions about their health and well-being.
Only less than 3% of all dietetic and nutrition professionals are Hispanic or African American. The lack of diversity in the nutrition field makes it harder for people of color to feel identified, and safe and to seek help when they need it. This was one of the main reasons why I was so driven to pursue a career in health and nutrition. Because I would like to see diversity and cultural differences being reflected in dietitians. As a future registered dietician, I want to be able to provide that safe, unbiased care to women of color, that will make them feel understood when they need nutrition and wellness care services.
This would be my way of honoring my grandmother, by using her unfortunate death and illness as a source of inspiration that is fueling my passion for service and taking care of women in her same position. And although I cannot change the past I can, however, influence the future and help others prevent disease, and live healthy lives just like I would have wanted my grandmother to have had the opportunity to.