Alexis Garcia - A Young Mother's Resolve

 

It was a Monday morning and it was 1 o’clock AM and I had work in seven hours. I was at the hospital with my 10-month-old daughter, screaming, crying. I was holding her. We went into the doctor's office, I was with my mom and as the doctor walked in, he turned automatically to my mom, even though I was holding my daughter and told her, "So, what's wrong with your child?"

 

That really hurt my feelings because as a teen mom a lot of people don't want to accept that there's teen moms. So, I automatically stood up, answered kind of with an attitude because it was bothering me. Well, he kind of jerked his head back and it's like just because I was 18 at the time and even though I had braces and stuff, I guess I looked like I was 16. So, they don't expect it to be my child. Well, we went into the x-ray room and my little girl got her x-rays. We waited an hour and the doctor came back and my little girl was diagnosed with swine flu plus RSV which are both deadly and fatal to children, especially babies. And being that my daughter was only 10 months, it was 50-50, whether life or death situation. [scoffs]

 

She stayed in the hospital for two days. That Wednesday I went to work and I worked at a daycare. I was in charge of 12 two-year-olds, so it was a big class. And I just remember just being so stressed out from knowing my daughter was in the hospital and just everything just was like my world was tumbling down. The next day I got in my car and I drove to work. Halfway on the ride, my tire got a flat and I had to call into work and me and my manager don't get along because the two days I called in that I couldn't make it to work because my daughter was in the hospital, she had an attitude with me. And as soon as she heard my voice say, "Hello, I'm not going to be able to make it into work." She was like, "You either come in or you're fired" and hung up on me. So, I was like, "You know what, I'm fired." 

 

I just remember worrying about the money and just the bills I had to pay and for my daughter. And so, I just drove home. After AAA came and changed my tire, I went home, laid in my bed and just started thinking about how I was just sick of dealing with all this. I didn't want to deal with people like that and I finally came to the decision I'm going back to school because I dropped out my senior year when I had her. So, now I'm 20 years old, and I'm in high school. I'm a senior, and my little girl is now two years old. And-- [cheers and applause] Thank you. And I now have her at the same daycare. So, the first day of school, I walked past the lady smiled, brought my little girl to her class. 

 

So, as a nice person, I said, "Have a nice day." And I just had a smirk, and I walked out. Because in the end, I won. She didn't win that battle. She was just trying to put me down. [cheers and applause] And I'm a senior this year, but I will graduate, and I will crawl across the stage at the end of the year if I have to. Thank you.