medlife

Will you be a part of this?

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Dear Friends and Family,
I write this post with excitement, great Joy and hope for the future, as I continue my journey into medical school. As most of you know with help from Miss Peggy Stranges and Sol foundation I applied to and passed the admission testing, making more than the minimum requirement to enter medical school in Honduras in the summer of 2011.

My road to medical school has been challenging at best, as few students in my situation have tried to gain access to medical programs and succeeded, and of those who succeed to get in even fever actually get thru the program. I was born in less than ideal circumstances and have had and uphill battle all the way constantly beating long odds to overcome the challenges of life. I am the oldest of four siblings, and while growing up very poor with a single mother who did and awesome job considering the circumstances, I truly am a product of my family and communities hard work and perseverance, there are so many people that have invested time and energy in my journey way long before they even knew I was headed to medical school, Like Ptolemy and Neysa Matthews, and Joelle Fehlauer who came down to Honduras to volunteer time in a christian school I attended,all of whom made and incredible impression on me at a time when I was really struggling, fighting battles they knew nothing about.

I worked for three years at the local hospital in roatan, it was here that I truly became  inspired me to dream big and go beyond the expectations of my neighborhood. I know that inequities exist, and my curiosity for healing and justice deppened. I have made it my personal mission to improve conditions that prevent others from having equal treatment and access to education and healthcare resources. I have made it my mission to ease human suffering I believe this is the reason I was born.

My friends and mentors have said that I am a trailblazer, that I have taken the road less traveled, and that in the face of insurmountable challenges , I have overcome the greatest of obstacles. The reality is that I have had much help to be where I am today, and at every step of the way, I have encountered and relied on the kindness of friends, neighbors, teachers, and mentors to teach me and guide me through the process.

Now once more I must rely on the kindness of others to help me through my next step in medical school. Because Honduras really does not offer formal financial aid programs, or student loans, especially for poor people in medical school who´s parent has no valuable assets . I must fundraise to cover my medical school expenses in order to see my dream of becoming a community doctor come true. While I worked to pay my own way through high school, I am unable to work as a medical student due to the high volume of classes and information I will be required to learn over the next few years. I receive a partial scholarship from the foundation for the advancement of people administered by SOL foundation. which comes under review each year. This agreements as most of you probably already know requires that I raise part of the funds I need from the community.

It takes about 7000 dollars per year for me to stay in the program. I have a formula thru which Sol and Rotary provide roughtly 75% of this which leaves me to raise 1750 dollars per year. I have done this the past two years online with help from many friends. Well it is October I am about done with this year and it is time to do it again friends. I will be meeting with rotary and Sol in December to determine plans for the next year and whether they will continue funding me or not. But how about we start to raise our share and exceed it by them. I got help raising funds for this year from so many of you. Tricia, Anna, Nicki, Jennifer,Mark, Roatan homes, Peggy, Dave  and so many others shared my story and helped me raise the funds I needed for this year in about two weeks.

Friends, today I humbly ask you to dream with me. I am asking you to once again support my goal of becoming a physician by helping sponsor another year of my medical education, It would be impossible for me to do this without your help. My goal is to fundraise at least the 1750 dollars in order to help meet the 7000 dollars I will need for the next school year. . I am doing what I can in applying to scholarships, finding alternative measures of funding, and now asking for your support.

I know there are many other needs and I have seem so many request for money lately on Facebook for so many good causes, I also know that while we would like to help everyone there is only so much we can do. I have lamented how politicians are able to raise so much money from so many donors while many charities are lacking funding. But the truth is  one of the reasons they are able to do so is because a lot of people know about them.

Friend one of the best things you can do besides chipping in yourself is making sure to share this with your friends. I know there are many people who would be glad to help if they only knew about my dream and my story. After all, all I need is 1750 people to donate 1 dollar.

As I have mentioned before I am only able to continue on this journey because of the generous support of people like you, I would really appreciate it if you would go over to sol foundation website and make a donation of any amount to help me thru next year and to help me complete this program. I assure you I will honor that donation in loving service, and by making sure I am doing everything I can to pay it forward. Just make sure to type Natan Webster in the dedication box. Every penny sent to sol with the dedication line Natan Webster is administered to my scholarship Program, and is a foundational stone in helping me become a doctor with a message and a mission in Honduras.

http://www.solsite.org/

Cesar words resonate with my life goals of community work — “We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community… Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.” I believe in the power we have as a community and hope that you can help me reach my dream of becoming a physician.
Thanks to the support of many I am about to finish and will soon be posting grades for macro-anatomy, neuro-anatomy,embryology,histology, and public health.

With your help next year, I’ll be able to finish physiology, bioquem, psychology, public health,microbiology, and genetics 

I proudly continue working hard to be a community doctor. I continue to dream of helping and healing people and with your help, I will be one step closer to creating a healthier, and more just world for all of us.
Please go on over to SOL today and chip in making sure to type Natan Webster in the dedication line, and please make sure to share this post with your friends. Also remember that all donations made via SOL are tax deductible.

donate here now

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Thank you!

The first week!!!

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Several things have been made painfully obvious to me in my first week of medical school. First of all, it’s true – med students probably cover just as much in one week as general science students do in a month, the pace is ridiculous. Every day is a struggle to keep my head above water. We, as medical students, are expected to memorize a nauseating amount of information, and then regurgitate it on test day. Falling behind, even for a day, could be fatal. I study after I study and I still feel like I don’t study enough. Currently my schedule is as follows:

Monday-Friday

Classes:  9 to 5 it takes and hour for me to get to and from the faculty

Dinner : 6-7

Study: 7 my brain turns into cheese, usually around 11pm

Overall I study between 60-70 hours per week

 Second, This thing is ridiculously expensive, found out pretty early on in the week that I do not have enough money to cover books and lab material, and uniform cost, which means I have to figure something out by Monday.

Okay, enough about the sad/boring stuff. The faculty is awesome! It’s fun getting to school, reading the lecture topic for the day, thinking that “oh, I’ve studied a little of this before”, and then concluding the lecture with “I don’t remember EVER learning this before.” I have some of the most well-rounded classmates in the country, and we’re constantly pushing each other to learn everything we possibly can about the human body. The professors are awesome (and have a great sense of humor), the facilities are fantastic and the curriculum is solid! :-) I am surprised that my favorite class so far is by far neuroanatomy and histology is a close second. Anywho, here are two of my experiences that have made my week.

Story Number 1:

We had a faculty induction course on Thursday, by this point we had already meet all our professors received all our class plans and already had a bunch of assignments and books to buy. I went into the lecture at 7A.M feeling pretty down. One by the realization that I did not have nearly enough money to cover the cost of the things being required of me, and another by the sheer volume of stuff that was being heaped on us all at once. When I got there I had an immediate change of mood I saw so many people that I had taken different classes with the past 2 plus years at the university and while making small talk with different ones. I realized that we are all in this together, we are all going thru more or less the same thing and that most of us will survive, because that is our nature, we would not have gotten this far if it wasn’t. The course was a reminder to me of why I had chosen this difficult road and how my God will always put in my path the things that I need to get thru it. I came out of that course feeling reinvigorated and ready to go.

Story Number 2:

Friday afternoon I got out of embriology early and went to have lunch with some classmates and again I was feeling a little stressed out becuase of trying to figure out how to get my hands on all the material being required of me. Well I was deep in thought, thinking about coming up with the money to buy my disection kit. When my friend vicki says right out of the blue “You know it is amazing to me, I have known Natan for two plus year, we took our very first class together, and I have never seen him stressed, I mean even on test days the guy is just always relaxed and ready.” I was like which Natan are you talking about? Cause this Natan is freaking out right now.

After finishing lunch, we then went to histology. Like I said, I have surprisingly taken a liking to this class, Although for some reason the professor keeps calling on me, its like my name is the first name she learned so she just keeps going to it, which i don’t mind because it keeps me attentive and I am learning a lot. The subject we were doing today was really complicated and to me was so amazing. I came out of that class thinking about how much I love this career. I love the long classes, I love working with the cadaver and the microscope. I love all the amazing things I am learning about the greatest structure the world has ever known, the human body, and the many tools that help us study and take care of this body.
 
Medical school is hard and very stressful, But I am so glad that God and so may good people have given me this opportunity. I absolutely love it and am very excited about what all this semester will hold and all the things I will learn and hopefully, someday, being able to use that knowledge to help people. Yep its just the first week of faculty classes, it is hard and stressful and I love it.  And I thank you so much again for helping me be here. I would love to hear from you, how about leaving a quick note or sending me an email? or just passing my blog along to a friend so they can read it too.
Thank you for everything you do to help me. May God richly bless you.

Class schedule ready!!!

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I’ll go ahead and say it: last semester was pretty weird.  Frankly, I’m just glad it’s over.  I learned some valuable lessons, but they came with a heavy dose of hard knocks.

One bad semester won’t break me, though.  Today, a new dawn broke over my academic life.  A new semester has arrived, and I’m really excited about my new schedule.  Here’s an outline of the classes I’m taking, and what I hope to get out of them:

  • Macroscopic anatomy – Gross Anatomy or topographical anatomy: This is officially my first real medical class, no more introduction no more pre-med, this is the real deal.  I’m hoping to really understand the human body in general.  I have heard alot about this class the huge amount of material, the awful testing and of course working with corpses. Yep I am pumped and ready to dig in.Hopefully I wont be a fainter.
  • Neuroanatomy:I must say I am not as excited about this one. The human nervous system is very complicated and I suspect this class will be. Gonna have to hunker down and study. Already thinking about the all nighters I will be pulling for this one. Can’t wait!
  •  Embriology: The study of the development of an embryo from the fertilization of the ovum to the fetus stage. Got to get thru it, got to get thru it, that’s all I’m gonna say about that one. Lets just say gynecology and urology are not on my short list for specialties.
  • Microscopic Anatomy – Histology:  The study of the microscopic anatomy of cells and tissues. Looking forward to this one too. I am amazed at what an awesome structure the human body is and microscopic anatomy is an amazing testament and offers and amazing study of that structure and how it functions. As long as I don’t have to draw anything I’ll be happy.

Well, there it is ,four classes , 40 hours a week in class. 5A.M to 7P.M Monday to Friday. And still hoping to get one class in on Saturdays.  Now that I have some real, published goals, it’s time to work, well one more week of fun and then work! 

Thank you all for making this possible for me. Look for more updates on my progress!!!