paul kalanithi!!

as for my studies, i admired paul kalanithi. he’s a neurosurgeon and a writer. he’s born from the family of doctors, but he never really thought about being a doctor himself. he was once a surgeon who always wear scrubs, but then fate says otherwise. unfortunately, he has to wear a patient gown because of his illness. 

he was born in April 1st, 1977. he died  at the age of 37. his book, ‘when breath becomes air’ is so beautifully written. that book is a memoir and his life. he died because of stage IV of lung cancer. the book tells me about ‘what makes life meaningful enough to worth living.’ 

one of my favourite paragraphs of the book is, ‘would you trade your ability- or your mother’s- to talk for a few months of mutr life? or the expansion of your visual blind spot in exchange for eliminating the small possibility of a fatal brain hemorrhage?’ 

i carry that book everywhere with me. even though i’ve finished reading it. and i’ve been re reading it for like 2 times already. but i’ve never get tired of them.

while he suffers the lung cancer, he did not give up on his passion as a surgeon. ke kept operating, until he got to the point that he really can’t anymore. he thought, ‘i still have the ability and time to operate, so i have to do it’.

when he was a patient, ‘what happens to your identity and sense of purpose when your plan for the next 40 years is suddenly wiped off the table?’ he thought.

Before studying medicine at Yale, Kalanithi had earned a BA and an MA in English literature, a BA in biology and an MPhil in the history and philosophy of science and medicine. He was interested in discovering where “biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect”. 

Kalanithi proceeded to obtain a master's degree in English literature, and through this discovered that English was not where he belonged. He discovered that he wanted to pursue medicine to truly experience the meaning of life.

that book is a reminder, that when we lose sight of our mortality, we can too easily lose sight of what is important, and what is not, in the way we live. we 

when breath becomes air, will get you thinking about what matters in your life and about ‘what lies up ahead on the road’.