Samuel Danquah

It takes the darkest skies to appreciate the essence of luminous twinkling little stars. Like tiny dots of artwork on a canvas, they reveal the masterpiece of Orion the hunter against the backdrop of the silhouetted night firmament, on the tapestry of the celestial equator. My birth brought a glow into the lives of my Ghanaian parents as the first male child. But suddenly my parents noticed that my four-year-old infant sister was no normal child. She started exhibiting weird twitches, catatonic stares, and whimsical quietude which were signs of cerebral palsy. The doctors could not explain what was happening and referred her abroad due to the limited medical resources of my developing country. My parents could not afford to get my beloved sister, the help she needed due to financial constraints. Growing up in the company of Sandra as a toddler, I was clueless to her condition and was rather fond of her playful gestures. She was my special playing buddy and I started introducing her to my friends. They mocked her with teasing songs – their scornful lyrics: “sickness” and “dumb”, were enough for an eight-year-old mind to realize that something was wrong. After that event, my life changed drastically. I was confused, withdrawn and minimized my engagements with Sandra. But my dad noticed my recent change in attitude. One Monday morning, amid my regular preparation for school, he called me into his room. Upon entering, I felt the uneasy ambiance of being called to a principal's office as he uttered these words, “Samuel, remember that you have responsibilities to accept Sandra for who she is.” He got me thinking deeply about my actions and I began to see a window into Sandra’s struggles. She could not express herself with words. She was doing her best with gestures and sounds to communicate with the world around her even though, the people around her were not reciprocating in resonance. Therefore, I devoted myself to embrace her and take a step to understand the lens from which she views the world. Despite the plethora of negativity and darkness painted on her canvas, she was determined to shine brighter as a dazzling little star and I as an artist, became resolute to make her portrait a masterpiece. I began taking notes of her actions, predicting her movements, and understanding her behaviour to a certain degree. I started researching, and I finally got to know that she was suffering from autism. What I did not understand was why my parents just assumed that Sandra was dumb; Sandra exhibits intelligence in her normal activities, such as following requests, and asking permission to visit the bathroom. Her condition is improving though, but at the speed of a persistent snail. Moreover, all these novel studies on my sister, drove me into the study of the human mind. I researched on the power of the brain and at a point went all crazy about “Lucy,” a fictional movie about a woman who somehow unlocked the full potential of the brain as the result of an illegal drug that burst in her intestines. Previously, I had spent a great deal of my time, tinkering and repairing gadgets at home – disassembling and assembling them to understand the underlying working mechanisms. It is a packed experience with many exciting offers such as designing and problem solving which is self-gratifying. I knew my future was in engineering. My love for engineering brought me even closer to my sister’s illness. My journey thus far had brought me to the crossroads of engineering and neuroscience. Like Orion’s belt, three pole stars are visible in my night sky – my passion to make Sandra better, my innate tinkering spirit and my obsession with the power of the human mind. By aligning these disciplines, I seek to develop the field of Mecha-Neurosurgery in my pursuit to understand Sandra and help others like her.