Seeing Life Through Death by Elizabeth Cabral, 16

Even though death happens, it does not overshadow life. Life and death, I have experienced. I have seen the faces of people who had just lost a child and just had a child. Both are times you never forget. Some people wonder what life is like with eight siblings. Being the sixth child of nine, I can tell you. My childhood was a blessing because of my parents, education, and my Catholic faith. I always had someone to turn to and trust. My family was special: four of my brothers have an extremely rare disease called PCH type 1 with SMA. When I was little, I did not realize that my family was different from others; but as I grew I started to understand that not many families have the honor of having people who have disabilities. I always pushed a wheelchair and learned how to fix and use different medical supplies. I helped my brothers in and out of the car. People tried to avoid them or make fun of me for having them as siblings. The only place where people would not look at my family differently was at church. Some days, I would have to sit in the car for ten minutes while my mom loaded my brothers into the car. They were always taken care of before me. We spent hours on end in doctor appointments and IEPs. Even with the challenges, the benefits of having them as siblings made it all worth it. It gave me the opportunity to practice patience, humility, time management, prayer, thinking of others before myself, and thinking outside the box. I would not be me without my family. Although my brothers were in constant pain, they would always smile and make everyone’s day better. They taught me how to live my life and be happy; how to smile even when I am in pain. I loved riding bikes and going to the pool with them. We would get to park in the handicap parking and to ride and control the lift. In 2009, when I was nine years old, three of my brothers became very sick with the H1N1 flu. One day, two of them were taken to the hospital. My brother Michael passed away that same day. He was 18; my second brother, Daniel was in ICU. Later that night the third, Christopher, was also hospitalized. My younger sisters, ages one and three, couldn’t understand what was happening. My oldest sister was away at college and preparing for her wedding that was a few weeks away. My brother Josh comforted me because that is what family does: help and comfort each other even in difficult and painful times. The rest of my family was either sick or caring for the sick. I felt alone and empty. I felt an emptiness that could never be filled. I was stressed about my older sister getting married and my brother in the hospital. God was the only person I could turn to. I would sit and cry in my room for a long time asking God to heal my brother. My life had changed. At my brother’s funeral, there were over 800 people who told me about the different ways Michael touched their lives. This helped me realize that it is the little things you do that people remember because even a smile can change someone’s life. I began to feel God’s presence again. It distracted me from my real world problems and the sadness of my brother’s death; writing the eulogy for his funeral, and my brother Daniel who was still in the hospital fighting for his life. When you lose someone, you feel sadness; a devastating pain of never seeing him or her again and knowing the pain will never leave. It is so difficult for you to move on with life. Although my family has many visible problems, I would not change it for anything in the world. I love my family, even though people look at me funny when I am with them. There is nothing better than family.