Janice Malak, Mom

My hero is my mom. I know this sounds basic, but her strength and perseverance has helped shape me into the person I am today. My mom earned her PhD whilst giving birth to and parenting two children. Along with being the main eyesight of our family, as my dad is legally blind. This put a lot of stress on her, making her the family driver, chef, financial account and, most importantly, a mom. But the real way she shaped me is actually when she too almost went blind my senior year of high school. 

The day before my eighteenth birthday, my mom’s retina tore, which inevitably caused an emergency surgery on my birthday. Selfishly I was upset that my birthday was kind of ruined but, if I knew what was to come, that would’ve been the last thing on my mind. A few days later my mom’s retina detached, causing another surgery which didn’t work in her favor. She had some of the rarest complications her eye doctor had yet to see. This was also the first time I had ever seen my mom deal with mental health issues. During this time, she developed severe depression and, while she had to lay in a certain position to help correct her eye, she would not get off the couch. This woman was my rock while I dealt with the typical high school drama, and I felt as though she lost herself. Within this time period I lost my mom, best friend, and rock very abruptly. It was a shock to me to see how much she was suffering. Yet she did everything she could to help fix her vision. She completely revamped her diet, took all the required medicines, and did the most she could. The eye doctors told her that it is very unusual for anyone to recover from her complications, but she was persistent in gaining her vision back, and against all odds her vision returned. 

It was about five months later when it returned, and she was considered recovered from her complications. I had already moved into college, and she had begun teaching at her community college. I have never seen anyone fight so hard for something that seemed unattainable, and she inspires me to fight for my dreams even if they are large, no matter what.