When I was 20, I was on top of the world. I was an East Asian Studies major. And I had just won

a prestigious fellowship from the Japanese government. I would spend a year in Tokyo, studying

language and culture, all expenses paid. For a financially strapped kid like me, that was like

winning the lottery. One day on campus, there was a health fair. And just for the heck of it, I got

my blood pressure checked. And, to my surprise, it was startling Lehigh.

So the nurse sent me off to the school clinic for more tests, and they found protein in my urine.

This was not a good sign. And so I rushed off to see a specialist. And within a few weeks, I

found myself diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune disease that was attacking my kidneys.

And the doctors best guess, was that I had five years left. In an instant, it felt like my life was

tumbling into darkness. And I realized, what was worse was that I had to give back the

fellowship. To stay in Ohio, where I lived for medical treatment.

After the initial shock passed, I looked around at my classmates, they were throwing frisbees,

partying, getting drunk. And I got pissed. Because I was 20 years old. And I was dying.

Intellectually, I knew that anger and resentment were not a way forward. But the bigger question

was, how was I going to deal with it. And my mind, kept coming back to a favorite documentary

on the journey of the hero.

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