May 26, 2008

To whom it may concern,

          My name is Mikaela Parrott and I was one of the recipients of the Jamie Groves Scholarship.  I can’t thank you enough to have this scholarship give to me.  To help you understand how thankful I am to receive this scholarship I have a story I would like to share with you.  I have not shared this story with anyone until now but you are more than welcome to share and inspire others with my story.

          In 1992 my brother Taylor was diagnosed with Leukemia.  This was the beginning of many changes in my family’s life.  I feel honored to receive the Jamie Groves scholarship because I can relate and share similar stories as the Groves family went through in their son’s journey.  My life has been impacted by my brother’s cancer the way the Grove’s lives have been impacted by their son’s cancer.  I know how tough it is to have a family member undergo what Jamie experienced at such a young age.  My family was fortunate enough to be blessed by God to have my brother continue to carry on his life with us in this world.  As my family went through this experience visiting the hospitals I became more attached to the environment of healing and helping others.  My future career began when my brother had leukemia and I can’t be blessed enough to be where I am today helping others go through the tough times that my family and many other families are/have gone through.  Without this scholarship I would not be able to return to Muskoka Woods where this summer I have the honor of being a camp nurse.  I am so grateful for this amazing opportunity, where it will help me grow as a person and in my future career, become spiritually in touch with God, help others, and hopefully become an inspiration to the campers.  Again without this scholarship I would not be able to help individuals by working at Muskoka Woods.  So by granting me this money you are not only helping me with my future schooling but also helping me carry on my dream of becoming a nurse and helping as many lives as I can in this world.  As I keep in the back of my mind everything happens for a reason.  If my brother did not have Leukemia I may not be where I am today.  Today my brother is 19 years old, he has just finished his first year of the bio-med program at Western University and is truly inspired by his past to become a Doctor, where he too can help others the way Doctors and nurses helped him.

          Being at Muskoka Woods means a lot to me.  It has allowed me to explore the Christian faith and become more in touch with God.  It is a blessing to work and interact with the kids to see what gift God has given them.  Although Jamie did not carry on his journey in life it would have been an honor to meet him.  By the stories that have been shared about Jamie it truly would have been moving to meet him but it is still inspiring to hear the stories that are told.  By the sounds of it Jamie was a very gifted individual and touched many lives.  I hope that I can continue to touch lives the way Jamie has touched the hearts of others.

          So I hope my story has given you a little more of an understanding of how grateful I am to receive this award, how thankful I am to work at Muskoka Woods and how blessed I am to have heard the story of Jamie Groves.  And I hope you can see how meaningful it is to receive this scholarship from a family that I can relate to and the importance behind it.  I can’t wait to return to Muskoka Woods and feel that this summer will be unforgettable.

 

Sincerely,

Mikaela Parrott