{"id":91368,"date":"2014-05-13T08:39:48","date_gmt":"2014-05-13T12:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=91368"},"modified":"2014-05-13T11:38:59","modified_gmt":"2014-05-13T15:38:59","slug":"portraits-of-strength-mikey-chase-13-canr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2014\/05\/portraits-of-strength-mikey-chase-13-canr\/","title":{"rendered":"Portraits of Strength: Mikey Chase ’13 (CANR)"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was first published in the Spring 2014 edition of\u00a0<\/em>UConn Magazine<\/a>. To access more stories like this, visit\u00a0s.uconn.edu\/spring 14<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/a> or download\u00a0<\/a><\/em>UConn Magazine’s<\/a> free app<\/a>\u00a0for tablet devices.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
It was 1933 when UConn students so insightfully designated the husky as the symbol of strength, grit, and resolve that has come to define the true spirit of the University. In this special feature, UConn Magazine<\/em> invited 11 proud UConn alumni to speak out about what defines them, from their darkest struggles to their greatest triumphs. And no matter how different their backgrounds, their hardships, or the mistakes they may have made along the way, that same enduring strength and indomitable spirit remains, living on at the heart of every Husky.<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Mikey\"<\/a><\/div>\n

When one American couple began the lengthy process of adopting Mikey Chase \u201913 (CANR) and his twin brother from an orphanage in the slums of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, doctors could not guarantee the two infants would survive. Having subsisted solely on water sweetened with sugar and a few bananas a week, the boys\u2019 teeth had rotted, and severe malnourishment left them weighing just 12 pounds apiece by their first birthday.<\/p>\n

Already, Chase and his brother, Greg, had the odds stacked against them.<\/p>\n

Despite the doctors\u2019 dire predictions, the brothers endured, eventually making it to their new home in Bristol, Conn. Chase, a severe asthmatic, remembers being ill frequently as a child, including a case of appendicitis and three separate bouts of pneumonia before he had turned 10 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was young, I just wanted to get by,\u201d Chase says. \u201cI was sick. I felt like such a burden.\u201d He found himself shying away from challenges, afraid to stand out, fearful of the unfamiliar. It was his twin, he says, who pushed him through those fears, encouraging him to be strong, to try new things, and to be himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore we went to bed every night, Greg would tell me stories,\u201d Chase says. \u201cIn these stories, I was always the main character. I was the star striker [on my favorite soccer team], scoring all the goals and setting all the records. \u2026 That\u2019s where I used to start getting confidence. He told me, \u2018You can just be you.\u2019 I can\u2019t even say how much good that\u2019s done for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Together, the boys came to excel at school and relish the time they spent playing sports. In fact, even with his asthma, Chase dedicated himself to playing such sports as soccer, baseball, and basketball, as well as running track in high school \u2013 and received numerous accolades along the way. \u201cWe are defiers of fate,\u201d Chase says he and his brother have come to employ as their personal motto.<\/p>\n

But what had long been Chase\u2019s childhood dream \u2013 becoming a soccer star \u2013 would remain unattainable due to his asthma.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t matter. He realized that the health challenges he had faced during his youth presented an inspiring career path, one in which he could offer the same kind of support and care to patients that he himself had received as a child. <\/b><\/p>\n

We are defiers of fate. \u2014Mikey Chase \u201913 (CANR)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cGoing from a country with very little health care to here, where I received great care \u2013 I was lucky,\u201d he says. \u201cI really believe in supporting children, giving them motivation, and teaching them that whatever they dream within reason is possible \u2013 you just have to want it. For me, I wanted to simply live a normal and happy life with dreams I could hold and make a reality. The health care system and my family\u2019s support helped me to achieve that. \u2026 If I could give that back to people, that\u2019s something I want to wake up every single day and go to work for.\u201d<\/p>\n

With this in mind, he headed to UConn, while his brother attended Fairfield University. An Honors student and scholarship recipient, Chase hit his stride, majoring in allied health sciences and getting involved as a leader in innumerable student activities, including cofounding an annual conference for students interested in pursuing professions in health care. \u201cUConn\u2019s been a huge part of my life. So to leave a legacy at UConn makes it that much more rewarding,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Chase, now graduated from UConn and working at Bristol Hospital, plans to seek a career as a physician\u2019s assistant, working with an underserved population. He repeatedly returns to the lessons he learned from his twin, who has since come to UConn himself to obtain a law degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne day my brother said to me, \u2018Courage is what turns dreams into reality.\u2019 And that stuck with me,\u201d he says. \u201cThere are things to be afraid of, and there are things where you have to be courageous and just try. And at the end of the day, if you try your hardest, no one can say you didn\u2019t give it your all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article was first published in the Spring 2014 edition of\u00a0UConn Magazine. To access more stories like this, visit\u00a0s.uconn.edu\/spring 14 or download\u00a0UConn Magazine’s free app\u00a0for tablet devices. It was 1933 when UConn students so insightfully designated the husky as the symbol of strength, grit, and resolve that has come to define the true spirit of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[49],"class_list":["post-91368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-28 08:34:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91368"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93514,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91368\/revisions\/93514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91368"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=91368"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=91368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}