episode 6: kRIS thompson

January 18, 2021

What started my pursuit of medicine was that, at a young age, my brother passed away from multiple sclerosis. He was already 15 years old when I was born, so from day one he was a proud big brother who was always there for me. He was my role model growing up, especially because he was such a fearless sort of person. Even as a kid he was an absolute daredevil, always dealing with injuries from ill-conceived stunts. Nurses in the ER joked with him that he would start to glow in the dark if he kept coming back for x-rays. He did everything he wanted to do and lived his life to the fullest. He was the high schooler that would play football while still being in the band, meaning he played in the halftime performance with his football gear still on. He competed in wrestling and still joined the drama club even when his friends teased him. After high school, he was passionate about wanting to go into the Army, but he still wanted to earn a degree as a civil engineer. He enlisted in the Army National Guard, and in his typical fashion, he put all his effort into the training and became the point man for the morning runs with his group. His goal was to graduate from school then go full-time into the Army and become an Army Ranger. He always said to my mom, “I want to be the guy jumping out of planes,” which scared her to death, but that was just who he was! He received recommendations to go into the Army full-time after earning his degree, but by then he also received his diagnosis.

I cannot imagine what it must have been like for him to receive his diagnosis and experience the effects of such a disease, because it put so many limitations on his life. Suddenly, the person who couldn’t be held back found all of his goals beyond his reach. As I was writing my literature review at the end of my Master’s program, I began to see how frustrated he must have been during that time. I chose to write my review on the role certain cells are believed to play in MS, and after reading through many different papers, it occurred to me there are still gaps in our understanding of the causes of the disease. The categorization of its subtypes had been agreed upon only a few years before his diagnosis. It's crushing to know that when he went to see various doctors, they just didn't have answers or effective treatments. The few experimental treatments at that time just made him feel worse, and seeing that there was little that could be done in alleviating his symptoms greatly affected him.

As a child, I was angry that medicine and science couldn’t help him. It seems funny to me now how, at such a young age, I made going into medicine my goal because I wanted to put an end to the illness that took my brother as if it was some sort of enemy. I wanted to be a doctor to fight MS! But then I grew older, I became more knowledgeable, and my expectations became more realistic. I realized how out of scope it was for one person to find a solution to a disease as complex as MS, but also that the goal of medicine is not about fighting a disease but making a positive impact in the lives of your patients. I could become a physician that could help in finding the answers that my patients are looking for or even just help to improve their quality of life. I cannot help but think of my brother’s struggles and how much they negatively affected his own quality of life and overall independence. So many aspects of his life came to a halt, and I find it so hard to accept that this is the reality that those suffering from debilitating diseases such as MS must face.

Along the way, I still had moments where I had to ask myself, “Can I go into medicine?” I had moved from Louisiana to New York for my undergraduate career and left my support network behind. I struggled for a while, but over time I gained more confidence in my abilities and knew the question I had was not “Can I do medicine?” but rather “Do I want to do medicine?” I was at a point in life where I had a lot of options in front of me, and I needed to ask myself whether this dream I had of being a doctor was really my dream or if it was out of a sense of duty for my brother. I know that he would want me to live my life to the fullest in a way that was true to me, in the same way that he stayed true to himself. He would never want me to hold myself back from pursuing my dreams, especially if it was on his account. My brother truly inspired me to pursue this path, but at the same time, I’m here because I undoubtedly want to be. Figuring that out was only part of the challenge, because I still needed to focus myself and put in the work to get to where I am today! That's what led me to NYMC, and I couldn’t be happier turning this lifelong goal into a reality.

What are your 5 Most Recently Played Artists on Spotify?
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Wolfmother, Buckethead, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, and Wolfheart

If you could have any superpower, which one would you choose?
Conjuration, like in Skyrim. Summoning creatures to do my bidding sounds rad. Not to destroy anything, more like, “Now that you’re here, can you go to the store for me real quick?”

Pick something or someone from NYMC to give a shout-out to!
Shout-out to Chris Hoke, because he was in the Master’s program with me and now we’re in the same class in med school!

If someone wants to talk to you, they should lead with:
“Hey, I need some plant advice” is a good start! Or just “Hey how’s it going?”