This is another in the series of 20 profiles of The Gazette’s Best and Brightest Class of 2018.

When Hadeel Khammash arrived at an orphanage and camp in Jordan where refugees lived in painful limbo, she wondered if she could do the aid work.

She cried over the heartbreak she encountered. “I saw things like little 10-year-old orphans being the main caregivers to their 3-year-old siblings.”

Hadeel, 17, was there last year to help deliver charitable items collected for global and local distribution through Pine Creek High School’s National Honor Society, of which she was the charity leader. The items were things she always took for granted till she she saw how much they meant to the refugees – toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, hygiene and personal care products.

“I didn’t want them to think I was pitying them,” Hadeel said. “I was scared, but I realized they were even more scared. I found when I just opened up to them, they warmed up to me.” Her parents lived in Jordan before immigrating to the U.S., and Hadeel said she’s eager to do more work there.

She said the experience made her see her life-threatening illness in a different light, giving her courage and empathy to forge on even when she was unsure of her abilities.

When Hadeel was 14, she underwent two surgeries within six months to repair a defect that caused her heart to beat out of control. It was terrifying to think the doctors would freeze a part of her heart that caused the fluctuation. Afterward, she had difficulty walking because of the post-surgical pain. But she insisted on keeping up with her studies from home. She ended the year with straight As and a place on the school honor roll.

“At times I had wanted to give up. But I proved to myself that I can’t let bad circumstances define me,” she said.

Hadeel has done volunteer work at a local hospital and plans to study biology and pre-med at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

She hopes to be a research doctor in neuro-immunology.

“There are so many lives shaken by disease. It’s overwhelming. I won’t rest until I have medical answers to put people at ease,” Hadeel said.