Close to My Heart

 2/3/25

Close to My Heart

    My blog's name is The Mighty Spark, and I thought I would tell you why. When I was a senior in high school at Presentation Academy, I was a part of SIP, the Senior Independent Project. This was a class dedicated towards individual research in whatever the student chose. You had to apply for this class and have a vision in mind. You also had to have a mentorship. I was mentored by Dr. Steph and Yvonne. They reside in Chicago, and I would Zoom with them every Saturday on book updates. There were 7 SIP students. In the past there has been fashion shows, documentaries, novels, displays, and other projects created. I wanted to create a children's book. I wrote this book to tell my own story. The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) was my home away from home for the first five months of my life. Growing up, I never read a book about my experience, and I wanted to change that. My message to all readers is that medical complexities do not determine who you will become. 

    The Mighty Spark is to represent the start of a fire. One small spark can create a big flame. That is what I feel now. I started off small at 1 lb. 5 oz., but I have grown into an educated young woman. I used this quote in my book, 

"A very little key will open a very heavy door."- Charles Dickens 

to portray that no matter how small you are or no matter how many adversities life throws you, you can still do anything you put your mind to.

    I wrote, illustrated, and printed my book through Canva. I am still in the process of publishing (if you have any information on publishing or know a publisher or even want to help me publish my book, let me know! 😆 Thanks!). My original goal for SIP was to write, illustrate and publish a children's book. I wrote and illustrated the book but found that to create a meaningful piece of art, publishing was going to be placed on the backburner. I did not want to rush my book and create something unauthentic to me.

    When I had the opportunity to take this course, I jumped at it because I was very close to becoming another statistic to add to the MCH mortality book. I want to learn more about infants at the neonatal level and the impacts of MCH. I want to learn about the implications of MCH with women's health and reproductive rights being restricted. I want to learn how to navigate and live in a world where women's health is being controlled and limited. 

Here I am at the NICU at Norton Suburban Hospital in 2003. My Dad's wedding band fit all the way up my arm. He has not taken his ring off since.