For those of you who don’t know me, hi, I’m Eldon Buckner, I’m a fifth-year biology pre-med student here at Ohio Northern University (ONU). The journey that brought me here today has been quite remarkable. As my time at ONU comes to a close, I feel it is important to reflect on what I have learned up to this point and superimpose that on what is to come.
I arrived here as many freshmen do: young, naive, and idealistic. During that time, I found myself spending far more time socializing than in the classroom, and as a result, my academics suffered greatly. However, the shining light in that dark time were my support systems that were there for me through times of great success and when all seemed lost.
Even as a young child, I knew I wanted to do something to help people. However, I had no idea where to begin, so like most children, I followed the recommendations of the adults in my life and entered university studying political science. Quickly realizing that wasn’t where I was meant to be, and having no clear direction of where to go, I changed majors to mechanical engineering with a focus on biomedical applications. While that felt closer to my calling, it wasn’t quite right. Finally, I changed my major one final time to biology pre-med, a field that had always fascinated me.
Throughout my life, my family has been plagued by health issues. It started at my birth with some developmental abnormalities that resulted in major abdominal surgery. Fast forward to when I was three or four, I have my first memory of healthcare outside of general office visits.
My grandma was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, thankfully going into remission soon after and remaining cancer-free ever since. Now, let’s jump to the fall of 2008 when my dad was hospitalized for nondescript pneumonia that quickly progressed to the point where he was placed in a medically induced coma and on life support in an attempt to increase his probability of survival as his body failed.
After just over 2 weeks, he was able to come off life support, but the doctors treating him were still unable to determine the cause of the pneumonia he suffered. It wasn’t until much later that I realized how abnormal it was not to know the cause of pneumonia, which piqued my interest in healthcare. Dad was diagnosed with AFIB in 2016. It seemed like once a month, my family would be in the ER managing his heart until the cardiologist found a combination of medications that worked to keep his heart in sinus rhythm.
Once Dad’s heart was taken care of, everything went back to some version of normal… until the pandemic hit, and we were all sent home. During the pandemic, I realized that even though the healthcare industry was in disarray, at its core, there exists a nobility in putting one’s own life aside to care for those who are suffering and who may be at the lowest points in their lives.
My desire to become a doctor was cemented during the summer of 2021 when my dad was admitted to the ER suffering from hyperglycemia and AFIB, accompanied by severe abdominal pain. His heart returned to sinus rhythm rather quickly. However, because he needed an insulin drip, he was admitted to the ICU per hospital protocol. His blood sugar was under control by the next morning, but the abdominal pain persisted. Throughout those days, none of the tests came back indicating any problems until the early afternoon of day three when an X-ray with contrast was ordered to visualize the abdomen.
That X-ray showed air pockets dispersed throughout a large portion of his small intestine. With no other potential therapies, the care team performed a series of surgeries, removing 90% of his small intestine. During this time, it fell to me to explain to my family, who couldn’t or wouldn’t, come to the hospital, what happened to my dad and be a source of stability for my mom.
Though this could be construed as a traumatic event for some, it showed me the importance of being transparent with patients’ families and how my life experiences have been leading me down a path towards physicianhood.