Hi, my name is Matthew Wang and my story begin 12 years ago when I rushed into the emergency room at Rady's Children Hospital in San Diego, California at the age of 5. A few days before being admitted to the hospital, I was enjoying a beautiful weekend-long vacation with my family in Palm Springs, California. We walked around downtown, went swimming and had an amazing dinner that night. However, the next morning, I began throwing up non-stop and had a fever above 101 degrees. I felt super weak, nausea and gross with myself. My parents initially thought I had a bad case of the flu but when my symptoms got worse they rushed me to Rady's Children Hospital where I was admitted to the pediatric floor. I was pumped with IV fluids while nurses came in and out of my room checking up on me. By the second night, I had began to develop many common symptoms of a Kawasaki patient- strawberry tongue, lymph node the size of a tennis ball, fevers above 103 degrees, rashes from head to toe, and bloodshot eyes. By the third night, the doctors came to a dead end on my prognosis until a nurse came in that evening suspected Kawasaki Disease.
Within a few minutes, a whole swarm of doctor bombarded my small hospital room, taking vitals, asking questions, examining me and drawing my blood. This terrified my parents and myself due to the commotion, small conversation and seriousness in most of the doctors and medical students faces. As I ironic as this maybe, this was the night that my perception of doctors changed completely and what inspired me to become a doctor. As a young child, the doctor's office was a frightening place to me. Needles, shots, pain, were things I imagined in a doctors office. However, when I was laying in the hospital bed, weak and scared, Dr. Burns, the director of Kawasaki Disease at UCSD, walked into my room, calm and poised. She sat on the side of my bed, smiled at me, held my hand, and said "everything will be alright and we will get you healthily again." Although, this phrase may not mean much to most people, in the moment, it gave me comfort and tranquility in time of unknown. The intimate and gentle gesture that Dr. Burns reassured me with, impacted me so much that it has inspired to become a doctor and make the same impact on someone else's life as she did for myself.
During my time at the hospital, I was given a stuffed animal that was donated by a high school student. I received a golden retriever stuffed animal that brought me so much joy and made my stay less miserable.
I created this business to raise awareness for Kawasaki Disease and to be able to make the same impact on another kids life as the high school student did to me. All of my proceeds will be donated to the Rady's Children Hospital, specially for purchasing toys for children during their stay.
Within a few minutes, a whole swarm of doctor bombarded my small hospital room, taking vitals, asking questions, examining me and drawing my blood. This terrified my parents and myself due to the commotion, small conversation and seriousness in most of the doctors and medical students faces. As I ironic as this maybe, this was the night that my perception of doctors changed completely and what inspired me to become a doctor. As a young child, the doctor's office was a frightening place to me. Needles, shots, pain, were things I imagined in a doctors office. However, when I was laying in the hospital bed, weak and scared, Dr. Burns, the director of Kawasaki Disease at UCSD, walked into my room, calm and poised. She sat on the side of my bed, smiled at me, held my hand, and said "everything will be alright and we will get you healthily again." Although, this phrase may not mean much to most people, in the moment, it gave me comfort and tranquility in time of unknown. The intimate and gentle gesture that Dr. Burns reassured me with, impacted me so much that it has inspired to become a doctor and make the same impact on someone else's life as she did for myself.
During my time at the hospital, I was given a stuffed animal that was donated by a high school student. I received a golden retriever stuffed animal that brought me so much joy and made my stay less miserable.
I created this business to raise awareness for Kawasaki Disease and to be able to make the same impact on another kids life as the high school student did to me. All of my proceeds will be donated to the Rady's Children Hospital, specially for purchasing toys for children during their stay.