The doctors going to make the pain go away, my mother reassured me as I was led into the operating room.

At the age of seven, I was too young to comprehend the gravity of the situation, or my mothers anxiety. When I awoke the next day, the searing pain was gone, and all that was left of the appendectomy was a small scar on my lower abdomen. Just five days after the surgery, I played the part of a prince in my school play. My calling for medicine truly arose when my grandfather developed Alzheimers disease. A shadow of his former self, he began to forget his loved ones, except for my grandmother. Until then I had always taken the continued health of my family for granted, and the fact that my grandfather was losing his mind to an illness taught me the grim reality that no one is spared from disease. The absence of a conceivable cure for Alzheimers made his treatment very different from an appendectomy, with currently available treatment only being able to slow the effects of the disease, but not cure it. His illness sparked my interest in stem cell research, which harbours hope of a cure for Alzheimers. I currently volunteer with a group of doctors which runs free bimonthly medical clinics for impoverished communities, where my proficiency in three languages and two dialects helps in my role as a translator. I quickly learned to note each patients medical history and became familiar with local monikers for diseases. I had gotten my first taste of practised medicine, for those who needed it most, which reinforced that my calling for medicine was not merely a fleeting infatuation, but a concrete ambition. During my nine-day attachment at a local hospital, I shadowed doctors of various disciplines and saw how these fields were interrelated, highlighting the importance of teamwork and communication. While following the case of a breast cancer patient, I had the chance to discuss her CT scans with her radiologist, watch the mastectomy performed by her surgeon, and chat with her during her post-operative care. This case taught me two important aspects of medicine that cohesion between various disciplines is crucial, and that post-operative care was much more significant than I had previously imagined. Not only does it allow for post-surgical care, but more importantly it serves as an opportunity to provide emotional support when the patient feels most vulnerable. I realized then that the emotional fulfilment of helping patients get better more than compensates the hardships a doctor has to undergo. As President of the Interact Club, I discovered my capacity for compassion through our goodwill projects. I realised the weight of simple words of encouragement during my tenure as House Captain, and my sense of teamwork was further honed when I represented my school in debate and basketball at national and district levels. I continued my active co-curricular participation throughout my A-Levels, being elected as Group Leader and Head Photographer of SASA, a scholarship foundation for selected A-Level students. Immersing myself in a volunteer teaching programme, I derived a deeper sense of responsibility as these deprived orphans truly depended on

us to help them pass their examinations. And it is with this sense of responsibility that I would love, as a doctor, to attend to my patients. Medicine to me has always been an avenue for humanity at its purest. In no other field will the act of saving lives be more pronounced, nor gratifying. I am determined to study medicine; to excel in it and to alleviate the pain and suffering of the infirm wherever I can - perhaps someday, even help another seven-year-old get better in time for his school play.