Trenton Timmer

My name is Trenton Timmer, I am a 24 year old student at Grand Valley State University. I am currently a senior and am studying to major in Allied Health Science with a minor in Psychology. I plan to attend graduate school to receive my master's degree to become a Physician Assistant. My time spent in the medical field both directly as a patient and directly as a job as an Occupational Therapy Assistant. I received my associate's degree in Applied Science for Occupational Therapy Assistant in 2011 from Baker College in Muskegon, Michigan. After working through my fieldwork's in school my passion and love for the medical field started to grow and I planned to work as an Occupational Therapy Assistant and go to school part time to receive my bachelor's degree so that I could effectually become a Physician Assistant. However, not but a few months after graduating with my degree from Baker College Soon after graduating, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. The months and years to follow were very difficult on me, as my gait quickly decreased, my cognition and memory skills were dimensioning, and other sever symptoms of the disease. Through it all I continued to preserver and push through the difficulties the disease presented to me. I went to school part time at Grand Valley State University and worked as an Occupational Therapy Assistant in the skilled nursing setting. Over time my disease began to overtake me and I had to withdraw from school to focus on my health. I applied and was granted an opportunity to receive an autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) from a world renowned doctor by the name of Richard Burt, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, in Chicago. This treatment for MS is experimental and in the clinical trial fazes but it was worth the risk to me because I had lost hope in the treatment I was currently on for my MS. Since my HSCT in April of 2012, my symptoms that once plagued me have decreased dramatically. And follow-ups with the doctor's have been very positive and my MS has not progressed downhill at all. This gave me a new opportunity at life again. With the ability to walk, the increase of cognitive skills, the decrease in pain, and many other symptoms, I have no been able to live out my dream of pursing becoming a Physician Assistant (PA). Since my HSCT, I have completed five full semesters of college and am now a senior. I will be applying for PA schools this upcoming summer and fall. I hope to finish my undergraduate degree at Grand Valley State University in the fall of 2016, and begin PA school in 2017. I am blessed to have had the opportunity to have my life given back to me and a chance to fulfill my dreams. I am hard-working, persistent, resilient, passionate, motivated, and will use all of the ability that I have to fulfill my wishes and goals.