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Molly Sullivan and Rich Friedman hadn’t planned to become parents at a young age, if at all. But they also hadn’t thought of the consequences of unprotected sex. They were the perfect couple, the cheerleader and the football player, both having their whole life in font of them. So when Molly two months before they graduated High School found out she was pregnant it was a shock to both of them. None of them felt ready for parenthood at the age of 18. They went to their families for help, but not even them could agree on what would be the wise choice in this situation. In the end, Molly and Rich decided go through with the pregnancy and keep the child. They had been old enough to have unprotected sex and therefore they were also old enough to stand up to what they had done.
Ben was born on a beautiful day in May 1983, and even at birth he had been easy, there had been no complications and he was perfectly healthy. He was an absolute dream to have, the perfect angel, who barely ever cried or showed discomfort in anything. This was of course a massive help to the couple as they were both struggling to make enough money for the small family to get around. Rich worked during the day, while Molly worked nights, so the two took turns to look out for their son. Finally luck struck them as Rich’s dad helped him out, getting a job at a local car dealership, where Rich soon worked his way up to being a salesman and shortly after Molly got a job at the same dealership, but a job in billing. Finally things were looking up, money wasn’t as big of a problem and their love was blooming.
When Ben was three years old, Molly and Rich finally decided it was time to get married. They had been through a lot together already and their love was still going strong. They got married in the summer of 1986 and not long after, they got another pleasant surprise. Molly was pregnant again, this time with a girl. The couple then bought their first house together, moving in and getting everything settled in time for the little girl to arrive. The couple had high expectations for everything and Molly had used a long time on decorating the baby room.
In February 1987, Molly gave birth to their baby girl Hannah, who from day one proved to be the complete opposite of her older bother. She was colic for the first three months, barely giving anyone in the family any sleep at all. It was so bad that they some nights had to make their parents take care of Ben, so he would get a full nights rest. But finally after the three months, she got into a regular routine and the family could start sleeping again. Ben was very proud of his little sister and whenever he got the chance, the now four-year-old boy would always sit and hug his sister tightly, saying that he loved her. But it didn’t take long before Ben started seeing her as a rival. Due to her clumsiness, she always got all the attention at home, whenever she hurt herself everybody would be all over her. Ben on the other hand, was still easy and never had any problems with anything at all.
Once Elementary school came, Ben was thrilled and was from day one eager to learn. He was good in classes, paid attention when he should and was quick to pick up on what the teachers tried to teach them. He was also already at this age showing that he was good at sports and being social in general. Ben was friends with everybody and always had at least three girlfriends at a time. Starting his womanizing days at a young age.
When it was time for Hannah to go to elementary school, things once again got a bit hard for the family. Things weren’t going as smoothly as they had with Ben and she was struggling with things. Being the good brother Ben was, he of course helped his sister the best he could and with the help of him and tutors, the family and school managed to get Hannah back on the right track again. While it seemed like Ben was helping his sister out of his own free will, he wasn’t really. He was getting a lot of pressure from his parents and now and then he would have some fit, claiming he hated his sister and everybody. This was of course not true, but Ben was always asked to do everything and there was never any gratitude for what he did. He was never told he was good, he was just expected to be so.
High school was amazing for Ben; here he truly got to bloom. He was on the football team and of course as Quarterback, he was in the popular crowd and once again, everybody wanted a piece of him. Even though friends, girlfriends and parties often distracted him at this point, he still managed to be good in school, always a straight a student. He was a jock, but a clever one, the sad thing was just that nobody cared about the last part. The fact that Ben was in this crowd proved to be an advantage for Hannah once it was her time for College, because sadly some people saw her as an easy victim, but he wasn’t having it. Whenever someone even said something bad about her, he would be there, protecting her; he even beat up some guys for being idiots towards his sister. At this point, Ben already had a lot of muscles and he was not someone to mess with and most people had learned that the hard way.
The summer between High School and College was when Ben met Cathrine Lowe, the girl he thought was the love of his life. He had already had his share of girlfriends at this point, but this girl was special. She wasn’t very interested in the fact that he was good at football, she was the first one who showed interest in what he wanted to do with his life. She gave him an attention he was not used to and she was even kind to Hannah, something that gave her a lot of bonus points.
To Cathrine and Ben’s luck, they were both going to attend at the same College and from day one; they were one of the strongest couple on school. No matter how much temptation was served to Ben, he remained faithful to her; he didn’t even give other girls a second glance. Cathrine supported him about his dreams, even though they weren’t pro football as everybody was expecting. Even Rich had big dreams of Ben becoming a pro footballer, now that he hadn’t managed to live out that dream himself. In college Ben managed to do well in school, football, personal life and still be the always-protecting brother when it came to Hannah, scaring away all the bad guys that she seemed drawn to.
On graduation day, Ben decided to give everybody a big surprise as he got down on his knee and proposed to Cathrine, who said yes right away. Life was looking perfect for the couple, both had finished with amazing grades and they were more than ready for this next step. One month later, they got married at the local church and as Cathrine came from a family of a lot of money her parents gave the newly weds a house as their present. The couple was soon moved in had made a home out of it and now everybody were just waiting for them to announce that they were going to have a child, but they had other plans. Ben had learned something from his parents and they had decided they were going to get their degrees first.
To everybody’s surprise, they announced that they were both going to medical school, wanting to become M.D.’s. This was hard for Rich to swallow and it caused a lot of bad arguments between the two as Ben didn’t understand how his dad could not he supportive of him choosing to have a good career that he wouldn’t have to give up at a young age. But at least everybody else supported the couple.
Only one week into medical school, Cathrine had been out with some girl friends and had gotten a little too much to drink. Even though she knew better, she still decided she was sober enough to drive home, so she got behind the wheel and drove off. A couple of blocks before their house, she missed a red sign, making her car drive straight into another car with too high speed. She died instantly, while the other driver broke their back and would now face a life in a wheelchair.
Ben was woken up in the middle of the night by a police officer, telling him that his wife had passed away in a car accident, something he never thought he was going to hear. This made his whole life come crashing down on him, but he was lucky to have his friends, family and even Cathrine’s family there to comfort him and cry with him. He was ready to drop out of school, until Cathrine’s mom talked to him and explained to him how Cathrine wouldn’t want him to drop his dream because she had made a bad decision. Her parents even told him the house was his to keep. Finding his inner strength, Ben managed to continue attending medical school.
The first couple of months were hell for Ben, it was hard for him to mourn over his wife and focus on school at the same time, but everybody were so supportive of him that he managed to pull himself up and work his way up to good grades again. It didn’t even take long before girls started showing him attention again but it wasn’t before a year after Cathrine’s passing, Ben allowed himself to start dating again. For the rest of medical school, Ben was back to his high school ways, dating a lot and having a few relationships, being mister popular again.
Once Ben got his degree as Pediatric M.D., he started his Residency in the Cancer and Blood disorders at NYU Cancer Institute, loving every moment of it. The job is hard at times, specially when there is some kids that don’t make it, but the ones he can make a difference for makes it all worth it. He loves to joke around with the kids and never fails to make them laugh at least once a day.
Life was hard for Ben for a while, but he is now fully back on track, working on his last year of the residency. He rests well in himself and is a stone for a lot of his friends. If anyone is in need, they always know they can come to him.
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