Giancarlo

In one of the most beautiful places in the world I inhaled air for the first time, and that is, Lima, Peru. Raised in a small neighborhood named Rimac, I spent most of my childhood days playing fútbol on the bumpy and cracked pavement. Like every child in South America, one day I imagined myself becoming one of the greatest soccer players that played the beautiful game. Lamentably, that dream did not become reality. When I was nine, faced with the prospects of little available employment and increasing local violence, my mother and father relocated my family to New York. New York proved challenging on multiple fronts. Transitioning from my native language of Spanish to this"foreign" place, where English pervaded every corner of my existence outside of my home, overwhelmed me. As my brother and I started attending public school, we knew that we were the only reliable hope for my family to learn the language. My brother and I knew that we had the educational advantage to raise our family up and reward their daily sweat.

On the first day of the summer of 2010, around my 18th birthday, tragic struck. “It’s cancer.” I will never forget those words from my doctor as they reverberated around the hospital room. I never smoked, I never drank and I never exposed myself to second-hand smoke. There was nothing that would logically connect to the cause of lung cancer. Most doctors said just one word -“weird.” Being the youngest in the hospital with my condition, that appalling moment felt like a big rock hit me square in the face; however, I refused to let that block me from capturing my future goals. On the contrary, it set my focus more accurately, realizing that amazing outcomes are in the making.

Currently I am a full-time sophomore at Lehman College and I also work part-time. I am striving to make my parents proud. Although I am still with undeclared major, I want to pursue a profession in the medical field. I thank God for every rock that has been thrown at me, knowing that through those callous hits perseverance builds up and a stronger me arises. It is my privilege to be a New York Needs You Fellow because I know I will get the intense professional training and support I need to make my dreams a reality.