My parents Axel Diaz and Claire Diaz were nominated as CNN Heroes candidates.
They were selected because, despite being paralyzed, they collected and sold scrap to raise me into the top scorer in the SAT.
The day the Harvard admission letter arrived, the TV crew came to interview me. They asked me what my wish was after becoming the top scorer in the SAT.
I told them, "I don't have any other wishes, I just want to invite you to my home for a seven-day secret live-streaming. Let everyone see how my parents raised a child from the mountains to become the top scorer in the SAT."
The TV crew happily agreed. They thought I was a filial, sensible child and wanted the entire American audience to know how hard Axel and Claire worked to raise me.
However, when the live-streaming began, the entire American audience realized their previous thoughts were wrong.
As soon as the secret live-streaming started, tens of thousands of viewers flooded into the live-streaming channel.
[Are these the parents of the top scorer in the SAT? They look like simple and honest folks.]
[They are amazing. Despite being disabled, they managed to send their daughter to a top university by collecting scrap.]
[They truly deserve to be nominated as "CNN Heroes."]
The comments are full of praise for Axel and Claire.
The day I became the top scorer in the SAT, Axel and Claire became famous.
They became "CNN Heroes" nominees for their incredible story of raising their daughter into a Harvard scholar despite being disabled and relying on collecting scrap.
This secret live-streaming was something I proactively proposed to the TV station without Axel and Claire knowing.
Mini cameras were installed in my house and on the clothes Axel, Claire, and I often wear. I wanted everyone in America to see firsthand how Axel and Claire raised me to become the top scorer in the SAT.
In the live-streaming footage, Axel and Claire were busy in the kitchen, pushing their wheelchairs, and soon served the dishes on the table.
The three of us sat at the dining table, and the scene looked very warm and cozy.
Axel pushed a full plate of pan-seared beef with celery puree in front of me, telling me to eat more. He said, "Eloise, Claire heard your acceptance letter is arriving today. At dawn, she dragged me to the market to buy the freshest celery and beef, saying she wanted you to have the freshest ingredients. You should eat more." Eloise Diaz is my name.
Claire smiled in agreement, continuously placing beef with celery puree onto my plate. She said, "My daughter is truly amazing. The only wish Axel and I have in this life is for you not to suffer like we did. When you go to college, you must study hard. That way, you can have a good life after graduation."
Axel and Claire gently touched my Harvard acceptance letter, both moved to tears.
The audience also sighed, saying that Axel and Claire's hard days were finally coming to an end. They said that once I graduate from Harvard and find a good job, my parents would no longer have to work hard every day collecting recyclables to make a living.
Looking at the beef with celery puree on the plate, I hesitated to eat. I said, "Dad, Mom, I don't eat celery."
Claire thought I was being picky and tried to persuade me, "Eloise, be good. Your body is already weak, eating more vegetables is good for you, so you can get enough nutrition."
Axel nodded in agreement and said, "That's right, Eloise. When you go to Cambridge for college, Claire and I won't be there to cook for you. You can't start being picky like others."
Hearing this, the audience began criticizing me in the comments for being immature.
[Eloise, your mom is cooking for you even in a wheelchair. You can't let them down.]
[I lost all my good feelings for her. Turns out she's so hard to please.]
[So speechless. Turns out Eloise is someone who doesn't know gratitude.]
[If I dared to be picky, my mom would have slapped me in the face already.]
Under Axel and Claire's persuasion, along with the audience's criticism, I finally picked up the fork and ate the beef with celery puree on the plate.
Seeing me eat, Claire was very happy and kept urging me to eat more, afraid I wouldn't have enough.
Axel also praised me for being a good kid.
The audience directly praised Axel and Claire as good parents, patiently coaxing me even just to eat.
However, just two minutes after swallowing the beef with celery puree, I started breathing heavily, struggling for air. Then, everything went black, and I fainted on the ground.


When I woke up again, I was already in the county hospital.
The doctor was relentlessly scolding Axel and Claire. "How could you as parents be so careless? She's severely allergic to celery. If you'd brought her in any later, she could have died! You must be more careful next time. She can't have even a trace of celery."