Published January 27, 2023 4:56PM
FORT WORTH, Texas - A Texan who grew up successful stateless shelters, and who was surrounded by cause use, has flooded the likelihood stacked against him to get into aesculapian school.
Now helium wants to assistance different minorities get ahead.
Owen Saenz's aboriginal looks bright.
The 27-year-old is successful his 2nd twelvemonth of aesculapian schoolhouse astatine Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (TCOM).
But Owen volition archer you this isn't the charmed beingness helium grew up dreaming of.
"We were moving a batch betwixt stateless shelters oregon the projects of conception 8 housing," helium said.
Owen said helium went to six antithetic simple schools earlier his beingness stabilized successful the 4th grade.
His azygous ma struggled to marque ends meet, and his older brother, Gabriel, was progressive successful gangs.
"I was a pack subordinate from a precise aboriginal age," Gabriel recalled.
Pictures from their puerility amusement a young Owen pursuing successful his brother's footsteps.
Gabriel was changeable erstwhile helium was 18 years old.
Mentors got his troubled beingness backmost connected track.
"It was done the grace of others truly that helped beryllium yet get backmost into education. I was a dropout," Gabriel said.
Gabriel is present an migration attorney.
It was during Gabriel's clip astatine assemblage assemblage that Owen said helium began to imagination big.
"Because of Gabriel and my family, I was capable to prosecute the intolerable for me," Owen said.
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Owen said the bid of struggles helium faced arsenic a kid truly helped to hole him for the challenging roadworthy that is aesculapian school.
"One happening beingness has taught maine is you request to person resilience, you request to person passion, you request to person hard work," helium said.
Owen got his bachelor's degree.
The archetypal clip helium applied for aesculapian school, helium didn't get successful anywhere, truthful helium worked arsenic a scribe, retook his MCAT, and got accepted into TCOM.
"Statistically, I’m not expected to beryllium here," Owen said.
Instead, he's thriving.
Over the summer, Owen took portion successful a campy enactment connected by TCOM called Latinos En Medicina, which is geared towards attracting much minorities to medicine portion they're young.
"My extremity is to uplift these communities that I came from arsenic well. Show them that it’s imaginable and hopefully supply a way for them," helium added.
Owen wanted to beryllium an ER doctor, but helium said the wide schoolhouse shooting successful Uvalde made him displacement absorption to treating kids.
The Saenz brothers are sharing their struggles successful hopes of inspiring others persevere.
"It’s not hopeless. There’s millions of radical retired determination who privation to help," Gabriel said.
"Just cognize that your dreams are possible," Owen added.
English (US)