Why do I want to be a cardiothoracic surgeon?

"James, Why do you want to be a doctor, let alone a cardiothoracic surgeon? I am faced with this question on a regular basis, and every time I answer it I remember the day that I decided that I wanted to become a cardiothoracic surgeon.....

It all started in the year 2001 when I was eleven years old and my sister was 5 years old. We woke up one day and neither of our parents were home. I immediately called my mom, and asked her where she and my father were. Her response was, "Son I don't want you to be worried, but dad was admitted into the hospital this morning. He was complaining about some heart pain." (My father was 49 years old, and has had past hereditary cardiac issues (Angiogram and triple bypass heart surgery) Me, being young and optomistic just figured that dad would make it through again, and he will be home in no time! But that was far from the truth.....

That evening, my mother, sister, and I all went to visit my father at Fair Oaks Hospital. My sister and I had even made my dad some apple flavored JELLO. When we arrived to the hospital, we all sat around my dad and had a family prayer, during which we read Psalm 91 from the Bible, and just enjoyed each others company. We stayed at the hospital until my dad told my mom to go ahead and take my sister and I home so we could get some sleep. After saying that, my dad walked us to the elevator, handed me his cell phone and said, "Son don't turn it off, I will be calling you." Little did I know that those would be the last words I would hear from my father. After we arrived home we saw that had received a voicemail from the hospital asking us to come back to hospital. Upon arrival to the hospital we were informed that dad had went into cardiac arrest only minutes after we left, and that they were not able to resusitate him.....

....Our world had just been turn upside down...

It has been almost 9 years since the day, and the feelings are as fresh as they were the day we lost him. Life has had its ups, and its down but my God has seen me through it all. So the reason I want to be a cardiothoracic surgeon is because I want to ensure that other families will not have to deal with the heart ache that my family and I have had to go through. God has put it on my heart to help people in this way, and I intend to do so!