Whether it’s singing along to the radio or breaking into dance during volleyball practice, Lindsey Trinh (12) radiates genuine enthusiasm. When she walks, her loose braid swings from side to side, exposing a faint scar on the back of her head—a subtle reminder of her brain surgery in freshman year.

“The whole thing kind of just hit me like a brick, it wasn’t really expected,” she said. “It was a Monday, and [the neurosurgeon] said, ‘You need to have surgery on Friday; I would do it on Wednesday but we’re booked,’ and I was like ‘What the heck is happening?’ and so I was just crying because I was shocked.”

Lindsey sees the surgery as a pivotal point in her life, if not for the singular event but for the recovery. She spent six months in and out of school, feeling invisible as she waited for her mother to pick her up from the dreaded half-days.

“I do see it as a before and after because I think my personality changed a lot after that,” she said. “You know how everyone knows me as really excited, and always really happy all the time—and that’s true—but it’s because of other people that I’m around. When I’m around large groups of people, I just can’t help but be excited all the time. After surgery, that was the most time I’ve ever spent alone… that was a time of self reflection I guess. Just that year, I realized that it was really easy for the happiest people to get really sad.”

Spending time alone also helped her grapple with her emotions independently, instead of worrying about projecting her “always happy, always excited” personality.

“Because of that reputation before, I used to feel the obligation like, ‘Oh my God, I always have to be excited or else people will be like, ‘What’s wrong?’” she said. “But I think after that, since I went ‘off the grid’ for a little bit, I don’t feel the need to be happy all the time; I really just go by my own feelings.”

Lindsey tells her story matter-of-factly, not one to over-dramatize her experiences. On the other hand, she could talk about her family for hours.

“I guess everyone is really intrigued by the size of my family and the fact that I have three sisters and they’re all older,” she said. “I’m 12 years younger than my oldest sister… when I was little, kind of everyone was my mom.”

She cherishes her family’s relationship, from their holiday rituals to their inside jokes.

“I’ve just been really proud of my family as a whole just because I think we’re really unique in that there isn’t really much animosity between us, and it’s just full of of love,” she said. “So we’re really cheesy, especially at Thanksgiving. We all sit around the table and we literally go around one by one and say what we’re thankful for, and we all end up talking for like five to ten minutes each.”

Lindsey’s father and three older sisters are all involved in health care, which sparked her interest in medicine from an early age. She’s particularly inspired by her father’s underdog story, as he achieved his dream career as a gastroenterologist through pure drive and perseverance.

“We all have a soft spot for my dad, because he’s really quiet but he’s really wise,” she said. “He was just this kid sitting by himself in Vietnam coming from a poor family, and he comes over, and he’s so, so determined. He knows his whole life—he wants to be doctor, and he goes to med school, top of his class, and now he’s like a property owner, family of six, founder of a private practice. He’s just incredible.”

Christine Trinh, one of Lindsey’s sisters and herself a medical student, believes that Lindsey’s creativity and generosity will pave her path in health care.

“She can think on her feet a lot,” Christine said. “She’s also very kind. She knows how to take care of herself, but she’ll always take time to take care of other people when they’re down. She generally puts other people before herself.”