Why Doesn’t My Heart Get the Message? by Rebecca

Why Doesn’t My Heart Get the Message? by Rebecca - October 2026 Scholarship Essay

I was done with the race, but my heart was still racing.

Anybody who runs cross-country expects their heart to be pounding during a race. That part was obvious. What I couldn't figure out was why I still felt like I was racing afterward. A few minutes later I'd be standing around with my team, drinking water and catching my breath, but my heart was still going crazy. I couldn't figure out why. How did my body decide when it was finally safe to slow back down?
Then I ended up taking Human Anatomy and Physiology through Kent State. Suddenly, things I experienced during cross-country started making sense. I'd learn something in class and think back to a race or workout. What felt like "my heart is still pounding" turned out to be a lot more complicated. My body was still trying to recover long after I crossed the finish line.

One concept that stuck with me was how many systems are involved in recovery. Before taking that class, I honestly thought recovery started the second I crossed the finish line. Instead, I learned that my body was still doing a lot of work behind the scenes. It was trying to cool down, move oxygen where it was needed, and get everything back to normal. My heart wasn't being stubborn. It was still doing its job. That answered one question, but it also created about ten new ones.

Some days I walked out of class with even more questions. After a while, I started paying attention to things I didn’t notice before. I still cared about my finish time, but I also started wondering what was happening inside my body each mile. Why did some runners seem completely recovered just minutes after a race while others needed much longer? Why could two athletes train the same amount and respond differently? The more I learned, the more I realized there wasn't always one simple explanation.

I noticed this happening outside of cross-country also. In track season I was playing kickball with the team when a much larger student tackled me by accident as I was sprinting to first base. At first, I thought I had just gotten the wind knocked out of me. When I caught my breath there was pain that did not go away. By the time I got home, I could not stand up straight.
My parents took me to the hospital. I went through several imaging tests. Before that day, I had never paid much attention to ultrasounds, MRIs, or the people interpreting them. I was just focused on finding out what was wrong. This hospital trip resulted in a diagnosis of ovarian torsion, a condition I had never even heard of before. Surgery was discussed because it can quickly become serious, but thankfully the torsion resolved without it. I had to rest for a few weeks, but I was able to avoid surgery and return to the activities I love.

What stayed with me wasn't just the diagnosis. I was amazed by how doctors were able to look inside my body without surgery. Those images helped explain what was wrong when no one could figure it out. I found myself researching how medical imaging works, and how radiologists interpret scans. I asked the radiologist loads of questions. What started as a scary experience introduced me to a part of medicine I had never considered. Since then, I've been very interested in radiology. I had already been asking questions about how the body works in Anatomy and Physiology. Now I saw those ideas in real life.
Before taking that class, I judged a cross-country race by the number on the clock. Now I'm just as curious about what's happening to my body as I am about my finish time.

As I started thinking about life after high school, medicine kept popping into my head. The more I learned, the more medicine felt like something I wanted to be part of. That's why I've started looking at becoming a physician in the U.S. Army. I've spent most of my life on teams, and I like the idea of using medicine to help people while working toward a shared goal with a team.

Looking back, it's strange that all of this started with something I noticed standing around after a race. At the time, I was just curious. Now I realize that one question ended up pointing me toward what I want to study and what I want to do with my life.

The race ended a long time ago, but the question never really did.