The Road to Vet Med

"Experiences" Submission by Kailey Beckman - Western U

When most people are asked when they decided they wanted to become a vet they will all reply with a similar response: since I could walk. Well this is fairly true for me. An event that happened to me at the age of 8 has made me want to pursue a career in veterinary healthcare ever since. When I was 8 we adopted an amazing dog. This dog came with fleas and ticks so we got him treated and we thought all was well. Unfortunately we were very wrong about this. Our dog started to become very ill; he started to get very thin, had a hard time moving, started to lose his eyesight, and wandered around aimlessly. It was obvious that our dog was in pain but we couldn’t tell where or why. We took him to the veterinarian and after many tests, he was diagnosed with Lyme disease. Sadly our dog passed away a couple years later. After this event I knew I wanted to help animals but I hadn’t concretely decided on veterinary medicine. A few years passed and I turned 18 and I started to become sick. Like my dog, I was diagnosed with Lyme disease. I had so much pain and felt incredibly sick; I knew it had to be the same as my poor dog. However I had one advantage, I could speak. I could tell a doctor where I had pain and how I felt. Like most dogs, my dog didn’t have this advantage so my veterinarian had to try his best. This is when it truly hit me that I wanted a career in healthcare as a veterinarian. I wanted to provide a voice to animals who did not have one and be able to diagnose and treat animals who could not explicitly tell me where they were in pain. I believe that going through the same experience as my dog has made it clear to me that I will always try my hardest to cure an animal and I will never give up trying to treat an animal even if I have hit a bump in the road. I want to pursue a career in healthcare because I know that nobody should go through that pain and everything should be done in order to help somebody or an animal through it.