Different Takes
C HAPEL T ALKS
One
goal in
L
UCEY
HITNEY
W
mind
YN
THR
K
A
B
Y
O
PHOT
visited the health center four times a day during
BY SEAN O’BRIEN ’08 that first month, taking steroids that didn’t help,
while testing other methods of therapy which
Following is a chapel talk delivered on May 8, 2008 failed to produce any results either. And all of this
happened while I was trying to find my place,
W
hen I came to St. George’s School, I was trying to start over, trying to be the hockey player I
15, and I was scared. I was afraid that I dreamed of being in a world where, five years
might not make the right impression. before, I never would have dreamed of having the
After all, it seems that there is no more impression- opportunity to become a part of.
able place than a school where during every That fall, my first season as an independent
moment of every day, you are surrounded by soul at my independent school, I became severely
peers—the peers who determine your social status dehydrated—the result of my colon’s inability to
and whether you’re accepted. I was afraid that I was effectively absorb fluids. This resulted in it becom-
going to be surrounded by the virtually unmatch- ing painfully infected and dysfunctional. This was
able; kids with perfect families, who would go on not the first time that this had happened, so I fig-
someday to get the perfect job, living the perfect ured that after a little dose of morphine, a few days
life. I did not want my imperfections to show, so I of IV diet, and the nourishment provided by a few
hid my deepest feelings, fears, and my growing cute nurses, I would be on my way back to school,
illness deep inside, where I felt the least vulnerable. living my life, only to wait for my next relapse.
For the one month prior to attending St. George’s This was not to be the case.
School, as well as the first month of my attendance, I was 15 years old, and upon my admittance to
I was in relentless and increasing pain as result of the Children’s Hospital, I was a man among boys,
the ulcerative colitis I had been diagnosed with though in due time my lavish IV drip diet trans-
when I was in middle school. formed me into what appeared to be a child’s body:
No one knew what was going on in my life I lost 40 pounds in nearly one month. I would soon
because I didn’t want anyone to know at first. I need surgery. I remember one night, as I sat in my
18 ST. GEORGE’S 2008 SUMMER BULLETIN
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