Esther Okafor

This is Esther Okafor

My mother is a strong woman. She never gives up on anything, and loves to encourage people to try their best in life. She is my inspiration for my personal goals, and for that alone, I consider my mother to be my hero.

Esther Okafor, my mother, came from a family of eight children. She is the third oldest out of all her siblings. Ever since she was young, she loved to play outdoors. She loved soccer, basketball, and handball. She would always play with her siblings, and when they played a game her team would always win. Mother could never sit still; she was always moving about. She would always tell me that her "childhood was extremely enjoyable".

When my mother got married, she was so unbelievably happy. In fact, on her wedding day, she had cried joyful tears for hours. Growing into her late thirties, she had already moved to America with my father, Samuel; they had three children, and I was a little toddler. My mother was a hard worker. She's a nurse practitioner working two jobs, just to keep the money coming at a steady pace; she wanted to give her children what she never got the chance to get when she was a child.

When I grew up, I would always ask her why she would push herself so much, and she would say, "It's all for you honey." When I was around seven years old, I started to get interested in her working field. I would always see her with band-aids, needles, and different types of medication. I thought it was really fascinating. My mother had always loved helping people; her inspiration was actually her father. Her father had diabetes and she would always help him, and take care of him. When he passed away, my mother was grieving but she had to stay strong for her younger siblings, and be a role model. She got everyone to eat healthier meals because diabetes runs in the family.         

But it wasn't until my mother learned that my father, Samuel, had diabetes also. Just to add to the stress, my mother had high blood pressure. My mom didn't want her children to get diabetes, or high blood pressure, so she had her family eat more vegetables, and less junk food. When I'd ask my sister, Amarachi, how she felt about that change when she was young, she said, "I remember I would always ask mom if we were going to Subway or McDonalds, and when she said no, I'd cry."

My mom enjoys being a nurse practitioner immensely. Even though she comes home a few minutes past midnight, she would always come back with a smile on her face. Seeing her like this, I had wondered if anyone had ever had doubts towards her professional career. I asked my father and he said, "No. Your mother was a hard working person that never gave up. Everyone knew she could accomplish anything she set her mind to." 

Although my mother doesn't consider herself a hero, I sure do, and I can prove it. It was when I was just twelve years old, and my mother and I were going to pick up my brother from Ramona, an elementary school. As we were heading towards his school, we saw numerous cars honking their horns, and throwing water. We looked out our windows, and we saw two huge dogs attacking a woman and her small puppy.

It was a horrific sight that my eyes had just laid upon. Everyone stayed in their car, and called the police after they had successfully scared the dogs away with the water. The large woman was squirting out blood from her arms and legs, yet still no one came out their cars, for fear of the huge dogs coming back. My mom turned to me and said, "Stay in the car, Ogechi." I was in shock; my mother got her nursing tools, and ran to the woman. She successfully stopped her bleeding, and was calmly talking to the hysterical woman, as if she were her patient at work.

When the police and ambulance finally came, they thanked her for what she did, and said that they would take over from there. My mom just walked back to her car, and proceeded to keep driving to my brother's school. My jaw was still hanging to the floor until my mom told me to close my mouth. I smirked at her comment and just shook my head at her; this woman is amazing. 

Esther Okafor is the reason why I want to be a pharmacist or hopefully a doctor when I grow up; she's the reason why I want to help people for a living, like she helped that woman. She has a lovable personality that brings everyone to like being around her. My mom is an incredible person, and a hard worker. She has never given up on anything in life, and she never will. She's my motivation for my goals in life. 

I don't know how many times I am going to say this over and over again, but I'll just say it anyway; my mother is my hero, and she's my motivation for my goals in life. Not many people can say that their mom is their hero ... but I can.