Fifteen years old, going into my sophomore year of high school with great ambitions, I was faced with a serious illness. I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. Being so malnourished and weighing only eighty pounds, I was put on a nasal feeding tube. At the time I felt so alone, as if no one understood how I was feeling, especially when not many people -- including my family -- knew what colitis was.

At that moment I knew I had to become my own hero and inspiration. I knew I had to fight my own battles. I had the option to have a home tutor instead of going to school with my feeding tube, but I turned down the offer. I enjoyed being around my peers and I knew this illness did not define me as a person, nor should it keep me from accomplishing my dreams. I was often accused of having an eating disorder because people were not educated about the different purposes of feeding tubes. I always asked myself what I could possibly learn or gain from this illness.

Today, I realize that those events are what make me the person I am today. I am now nineteen years old, I'm a second year pre-med student and I hold the title of Miss Teen Oregon International. To this day I am still struggling with ulcerative colitis...but I have been my own hero and inspiration, and I hope to inspire others as well.