Isiah Seaport

 biography  Isiah was born into a large family made up of his mother, father, two brothers, and two younger sisters in eastern Colorado. The family ran a farm focused mainly on beef cows and sheep's milk, and chicken meat and eggs. They also owned horses that he learned to ride very young. He always cared deeply for the animals they raised and had a deep respect for the process of slaughtering and harvesting from animals. his mother was a manic depressive who lashed out violently, and his father, hosea, was physically present but emotionally absent. both parents heavily enforced gender roles and the work was divided based on them. The boys cared for the animals, helped with processing meat, and did all the hard and dirty work. the girls were in charge of cooking, cleaning, laundry, mending, and the like. The house was never warm or comfortable, esther's unpredictable mood swings and hosea's distance and harsh words left the children without support or safety. both esther and hosea found physical punishment suitable, frequently beating the boys with belts or putting cigarettes out on them, and often esther's mood swings came with slapping, punching, or throwing things at the children.isiah realized he was gay in high school when he developed a crush on a close friend. he wasn't ashamed of his sexuality so much as he was afraid. the small, rural town was deeply homophobic and his family was no better. he knew if they ever found out the abuse would increase tenfold. he had always wanted to get away, away from the small farm town and away from his family, but he had always accepted that he'd never leave--that he'd stay and care for the farm along with his siblings for the rest of his life. the fear that stemmed from his queerness was enough to disrupt this plan and spur a new one into action. isiah knew he could never afford college, so at the beginning of his senior year when a recruitment officer had a booth set up for students interested in joining the military, he decided that what he would pursue. he wasn't interested in going out of his way to hurt anyone, so the decision to enlist as a combat medic came easily. during his time as a combat medic he slept around with men in his troop and developed a lot of close friendships. as it goes, he also lost a lot of friends. he also suffered multiple back injuries from the physical demands and combat trauma. working through these injuries left him with severe chronic pain, chronic sacroiliac joint dysfunction, and degenerative disc disease. along with the chronic pain, he suffered from cptsd and chronic migraines from repeated head injuries. these conditions lead to his honorable discharge.isiah struggled to find purpose after his discharge, and after undergoing physical therapy he decided to go to medical school. he hadn't expected to go into emergency medicine, but he fit right in during his emergency medicine rotation as a med student and matched into emerg for his residency.