MY FOSTER CARE TEACHER BELIEVED I COULD BECOME A DOCTOR—YEARS LATER, SHE HANDED ME SOMETHING THAT BROKE ME COMPLETELY

her. I graduated high school, then college, and eventually medical school. Every impossible step somehow became real because one person refused to stop believing in me.

Twelve years later, the night before my medical school graduation, I stood staring at my white coat hanging in the closet and thought about Mrs. Langston. None of it would have happened continue reading …