The following is Collin’s complete essay written after corrective surgery with Shriners Hospitals for Children®. Visit Just Ask blog for more of the story.

Tragedies are mostly viewed to have a horrendous affect on one’s life. They can sometimes cause serious health issues,which in turn cause financial difficulty for the family trying to pay for treatment, and many times families can be split over the stress of it all. Can any good come from such harsh tragedies such as lifelong disease and cancers? At first glance upon such a situation, no good can be seen. But in my recent experience, I have been able to see the good that comes about from such terrifying tragedies and that the experience itself has changed my life completely.

Two years ago, I began  journey that I at first saw as a tragedy that would produce zero amounts of good until it was over. And I did not see any until the very end; but what eventually happened was so great that the bad does not even seem to exist. The beginning was when I broke my wrist playing football, and due to a variety of reasons, I was not able to get it fixed at all till nearly four months ago via surgery through the Shriners Hospital for Children® in Salt Lake City. Through Shriners, everything was paid for by them: flights, food, room and board, surgery (which alone was several thousand dollars) and everything else that could possibly have a price tag. My mother saw a Shriners’ truck one day which reminded her of the orthopedic care they offer. We then applied and were accepted into their care My family and I could not have been more blessed because without Shriners, we could never have taken care of this ourselves. But the gift of how Shriners took care of me was nothing in comparison to how much I learned from the other patients.

During the stay of my surgery, I was in Salt Lake for four days, during which I was able to see pure joy and be changed by it. When I saw and heard what the other patients suffered from and have had to live through, my broken wrist seemed like a mere paper cut. I saw a nine year old girl who had scoliosis and a rare spine disease that made her spine curve at a near-45 degree angle. Day and night she was attached to weights that helped her straighten out her spine. And day and night this girl played basketball! She could hardly walk in a straight line, but she would play basketball as much as she could. I also met a kid who had a smashed growth plate in his hip which caused one leg to be three inches longer than the other, but different length of legs did not stop him at all. This past spring, before his surgery that would fix his legs, he completed in track and broke a school record as well as went to state! These are just two examples of kids who were supposed to be sitting in wheelchairs, but instead lived their lives to the maximum and therefore did amazing things.

through my injury, I was able to see how kids affected by more dreadful things than I, do more amazing things than most people could ever dream of. In seeing these kids live their lives the way they did,I had  to question how I was living mine. As a result of my questioning, I have created some principles that I will use to help live my life to the full. Every day I will wake up and be grateful for what I have taken for granted in the past. I will use every skill, talent, and gift I have been given to the greatest potential. I also will accept every opportunity I have to help those in dire need. Together, I believe that I can live my life to the full as well as greatly improve the world around me. The tragic experience of breaking my wrist has helped me not only change my view of life and how I live it, but also to put my life into the service of others.