Please use the following essay to write a personal statement of 800 words or less for medical school: 
"I wanted to benefit the community through healthcare and particularly as a decision maker in many cases for patients. However, after my mother's diagnosis and treatment period-which is still ongoing- what brought me back from being a corporate worker and the possibility of preventing damage propelled me further to reconsider medical school.

My motivation started as the hope to do good and excel and converted to the need to fill the gaps in decision making and culture of healthcare as a provider and someone who has a final say in most cases of patient care. Because the damage that my mom incurred as well as other members of the cancer community I interacted with, particularly in the muslim community, never complained of bad nurses, medical assistants, radiology techs or receptionists. However, the damage was done when doctors were inneficient and lacking. So, the power they hold in teh healthcare system paired with the low health literacy.

We never experienced due to lacking nurses as nurses for cancer care were very thourough and detail-oriented as well as all medical team staff for the cancer center. However, the same can't be said for the doctors where one bad doctor soured the bunch and damaged the progress made by others towards a good quality of life and healing.

In thinking about reapplying to medical school, I had to rethink my motivation as I navigate the life stage that I'm at as well as what I want my life to look like down the line. I've had a great deal of experiences in the last two years that have been transformative for me and my resolve to become a medical professional, specfically doctor.
 
After my master's program and having been unsuccessful in applying to medical schools during that cycle and the uncertainty of COVID and the status of repayment on my student loans, I began the search for jobs, anything I could find. At the time, I had acquired an IBM certificate for data analysis that I used to apply for similar positions along with lab research experience. Through tough economic conditions and high competition in the filed of data analysis, I found a job at my current company, Penfed Credit Union. Since I worked in analysis and research in neuroscience, education and sustainability, this was different. However, I was confident my technical skills would carry me through. 

I successfully worked for six months before I would encounter a situation that would change my family's life and mine. In March 2022, my mom was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. It was shock to me that my mom that never had a cold all of a sudden was in and out of the hospital every other day to schedule. A Kafkaesque jumble of paperwork, follow-up, calls and more followups rendering me helpless in some situation even though I have above average grasp of public health and biology. It was determined that she would go through 2 rounds of chemo and radiation then a surgery to remove any small bits left behind. And thus begins the process. 

As a family member looking at my mom, I was grieving for the loss of identity she felt when she became ill and at the same time the guilt of thinking that my pain could ever match her own as her daughter as my loss was that of a pillar of strength and support. Knowing the shoes she fills, she immediately went into comfort and ....

Before going to chemo, she went to her primary care doctor then her oncologist who would moving forward be her primary care physician and main point of contact for all inquiries on food, medication and over-the-counter meds or vitamins she would need.

In going through this process, my mother stepped into an unfamiliar environment of people using medical terminology while ignoring laymen's terms and the pomp and arrogance could be felt in every interaction ever so slightly. She also has an accent, which hasn't made the perception of the doctors any better. 

I saw the biggest impact of this to her when she would talk about her mental health during this time. As a woman of faith, this was very important to her during her healing and being active in reading Quran and daily supplications and prayer helped her ground herself and be present for us as family when we weren't holding on. This wasn't well understood by the staff who interacted with her at the hospital as they would ask her questions and her answers weren't believable for someone in her situation. It's always a state of wonder and shock about the her resilience during this time. 

Since this was her daily routine of explaining herself, memorizing the correct expression for the feelings she wants to convey, the right degree of severity for pain, sadness, happiness and anxiousness. It was really hard for me to think that on top of dealing with the constant visits to the doctor's office she also had to think of what to say and document interactions and make sure no culturally-related misunderstandings occured in the office by checking the notes after the fact.   

As much the doctors try their best, it isn't an active aggression but a glaring blind spot that if you weren't in diverse environments during your education or your upbringing, you wouldn't take notice of it. 

In dealing with all of this, my mother stayed steadfast-as much as she could- as the chemo took away her strength little by little and her autonomy it became harder to go through discussions with her physician and having to adjust to her cultural blind spots. 

What really clicked for me when it came to impact of a physician as a decision maker was the advocacy as well as the understanding. This would only come to me when my mother visited an Arab nephrologist after they suspected tumor growth in her kidney on the same side as the infected breast. Her face was relaxed as he spoke in a casual tone reassuring and comforting her as he explained the procedure. 

I had never seen her as relaxed or elated as she was when he was her doctor and working on setting everything up for a biopsy. His awareness as well as cultural semblance to my mom made him capable of providing the space for her to relax and not police her speech in fear of misinterpretation or misrepresentation. 

The rigidity of the healthcare system fell apart in that moment for her and the sight of her comfort made me wonder about the thousands of women of different cultural backgrounds who never found comfort or what they look like when they did.

As one does when a family member becomes ill, I reached out to my friends for support who connected me to other women in remission they knew and they all had similar experiences. The monolithic nature of the physicians, especially ones in competitive specialties, are almost devoid of human empathy unless it's those who feel a connection to you or see your humanity  outside of the medical system.

I have interacted with a variety of people with different backgrounds, and grew in two different education systems allowing me the insight to the diversity that education has to offer and how that effects the new class of workers, blue and white collar alike, on how to be human and exercise empathy and kindness in their practices."