It was December of 1894, I was playing with my little sister Conchita when my parents walked into the room looking confused, scared, or maybe worried? I didn't know what was going on but something was wrong. My parents then told us something that would affect my life forever. ¨Conchita I'm sorry¨, my mother said. What did she mean ¨sorry¨? What was wrong? That's when I learned my little sister had developed the serious disease, diphtheria.

Diphtheria is a bad infection caused by strains of bacteria and can cause difficulty breathing, heart failure, paralysis, and in most cases in the 1800s, death. When I found out about my sister's condition I had no clue what diphtheria was or how it would have affected my sister. Conchita seemed confused too but my parents looked really scared, you could see they were scared to look at Conchita and that's when I knew things were serious. After my parents explained what this disease was, Conchita was crying and I was frozen in shock. I was scared, and so was my little sister. ¨Is...Is she going to be ok? I asked my parents, they turned their eyes away from me. That's when it hit me, this was really happening, and I couldn't do anything about it.

My parents tried to calm us down and informed us about the serum that they ordered to come as soon as possible and how it would help Conchita. But every time I thought about her disease a chill went down my spine.

For the next four weeks or so Conchita had to be closed off from everyone so she wouldn't infect anyone. The serum still hadn't come yet and her condition was getting worse. She was struggling to breath and the back of her throat was like a thick layer of cement, and it was drying fast.

¨I will never paint again if her life weren´t spared¨, I made an oath that I intended to keep. Seeing Conchita made me feel like I failed somehow, she was dying and I couldn't help. All I could do was hope she got better, but she never did.

On January 10, 1895 Conchita died at the age of 7 from diphtheria. My heart dropped when I was told that my little sister was dead. I didn't know how to react, I knew she was in bad condition but I couldn't bring myself to imagine her dying. I walked into the chilly hospital room following closely behind my terrified parents to see my expressionless sister lying on the hospital bed.

A funeral was held for my little sister with not many people except my family and I. Everyone was crying for almost the whole time when they saw Conchita. I didn't want to look, I was scared to see my lifeless sister in the casket. I still wish I had looked and said goodbye for the last time. I went home and stared at the wall for a good 30 minutes. I was still in shock, it felt like everything had gone by so fast. One day I was laying with my little sister on her maroon shag rug, the next I was laying, but not with her and I couldn't see her ever again.

As I was sitting I heard the chime of the doorbell and the clunk of something on our front porch. I stepped over towards the door and released the lock before opening the door and seeing a petite package labeled ¨ANTI-DIPHTHERIA SERUM¨. I turned around and slammed the door. It was already too late.