As the lyrics to Taylor Swif's hit song “Bad Blood” go: “Cause, baby, now we got bad blood. You know it used to be mad love.” It'’s a song about falling out of friendship, but to 14-year-old Hallie Barnard, who was born with a rare blood disorder, the song holds a much deeper meaning.

At just 15 months old, Barnard was diagnosed with Diamon Blackfin Anemia, or DBA, and she spent most of her life in and out of the hospital. The Swiftie said she relied on the singer to bring her joy.

The only way to survive DBA is with a bone marrow transplant (骨髓移植)and Barnard was desperate for one. But she knew thousands of other patients are, too. So, a few years ago, she decided to do something about it, creating her own foundation: Hallie’s Heroes. “It started selfishly as just trying to save my life, but then we realized there were so many other children out there that needed a bone marrow transplant,” she said. “So, so far we've tested 8,000 people and found over 300 matches.”

After a 9-year wait, Bamard got her own match —through her own foundation. But more obstacles stood between her and normal life as a kid. The blood disorder led to a cancer diagnosis: osteosarcoma. She received surgery to cut the cancer out of her leg at MD Anderson in Houston.

The recovery was difficult, but Hallie said she stayed hopeful. “My survival instinct just kicked in. I was trying to do anything that I could to survive. So, of course, it was scary but in my mind, I was just thinking that I wanted to be at my sister's future weddings. I wanted to play games and run again,” she said.

Her survival instinct-combined with Taylor Swift helped her through her operation, where doctors cut her cancer out, and reattached her foot and ankle to her upper leg to work as a knee.

My name is Alice. Early last year, I was troubled by an anxiety that crippled (削弱) my ability to do anything. I felt like a storm cloud hung over me. For almost a year I struggled on, constantly staring at this wall that faced me. My perfectionist tendencies were the main root of this: I wanted to be perfect at whatever I did, which obviously in life is not possible, but it consumed me.

One day, I attended a presentation by wildlife conservationist Grant Brown at my high school. His presentation not only awed and inspired me, but also helped emerge an inner desire to make a difference in the world. I joined a pre-presentation dinner with him and that smaller setting allowed me to slowly build up my courage to speak one-on-one with him — an idea that had seemed completely impossible. This first contact was where my story began.

A month later, Brown invited me to attend the World Youth Wildlife Conference. Looking back, I now see that this would be the first in a series of timely opportunities that my old self would have let pass, but that this new and more confident Alice enthusiastically seized. Shortly after I received his invitation, applications to join the Youth for Nature and the Youth for Planet groups were sent around through my high school. I decided to commit to completing the applications, and soon I was a part of a growing global team of young people working to protect nature. Each of these new steps continued to grow my confidence.

I am writing this just six months since my journey began and I’ve realized that my biggest obstacle (障碍) this whole time was myself. It was that voice in the back of my head telling me that one phrase that has stopped so many people from reaching their potential: I can’t. They say good things come to those who wait; I say: grab every opportunity with everything you have and be impatient. After all, nature does not require our patience, but our action.

I enjoyed English, biology, and chemistry at school, but which one should I choose to study at university? I did not know the answer until one evening when I sat down at the computer to do some research on great women of China.

By chance I came across an article about a doctor called Lin Qiaozhi, a specialist in women’s diseases. She lived from 1901 to 1983. It seemed that she had been very busy in her chosen career, travelling abroad to study as well as writing books and articles. One of them caught my eye. It was a small book explaining how to cut the death rate from having and caring for babies. She gave some simple rules to follow for keeping babies clean, healthy and free from sickness. Why did she write that? Who were the women that Lin Qiaozhi thought needed this advice?I looked carefully at the text and realised that it was intended for women in the countryside. Perhaps if they had an emergency they could not reach a doctor.

Suddenly it hit me how difficult it was for a woman to get medical training at that time. That was a generation when girls’ education was always placed second to boys’. Was she so much cleverer than anyone else? Further reading made me realise that it was hard work and determination as well as her gentle nature that got her into medical school. What made her succeed later on was the kindness and consideration she showed to all her patients. There was story after story of how Lin Qiaozhi, tired after a day’s work, went late at night to deliver a baby for a poor family who could not pay her.  

By now I could not wait to find out more about her. I discovered that Lin Qiaozhi had devoted her whole life to her patients and had chosen not to have a family of her own. Instead she made sure that about 50, 000 babies were safely delivered. By this time I was very excited. Why not study at medical college like Lin Qiaozhi and carry on her good work? It was still not too late for me to improve my studies, prepare for the university entrance examinations, and. . .