Lynn resident conquered adversity to graduate from college

LYNN – If it weren’t for the pediatricians at the Shriners Burn Center, Mimosa Long may not be walking across the Salem State College stage this Saturday with the rest of the college’s graduating class.Now, with one degree in hand and a second coming next year, the 23-year-old Lynn English High School alum has her sights set on medical school so she can help children just like herself.The child of a Vietnamese father and a Cambodian mother, Long was born en route to the United States as her large family fled the Cambodian regime.The family was working toward a better life in their new Brockton home two years later when tragedy struck, almost killing then 2-year-old Mimosa.Playing a game with her cousin while her mother did laundry, Long hid in a closet only to hear her cousin lock the door behind her. In an unspeakable act of violence, that cousin then lit the closet on fire, nearly killing Long and leaving her with second- and third-degree burns all over her body.From that time on, Long bounced from hospital to hospital before settling in at the Shriners Hospital for Children and later the Shirners Children’s Camp – her new second home.As she grew older, Long became stronger, deflecting insults and teasing from the kids at school. After graduating from English in 2004, she went right to Salem State, where she made the Ellison Campus Center her new home away from home.”Without the help of the people at the hospital and on this campus, I don’t know where I’d be,” Long said Wednesday, the day after her 23rd birthday. “I learned to grow up early because I’m not like all the other kids, so I learned that if I was going to do something or if I wanted to become something I could do it.”Long says she struggled as a child to fit in, and would even wear long sleeve shirts through the summer so that people wouldn’t notice her scars. She said her doctors and the people at the Shriners camp made her feel more comfortable, and eventually helped her feel comfortable and confident.”It made me feel comfortable in my own skin,” she said. “I used to wear long sleeve shirts because I wasn’t comfortable, but after camp they made me feel more comfortable.”A member of the student government association, along with several other campus groups, Long has helped raise money for charities like HAWC and has even traveled to New Orleans to help hurricane victims.She will receive a degree in psychology Saturday, but her work at Salem State is hardly done. Long will return next year to complete a degree in biology, after which she hopes to attend medical school at either Tufts or Boston University.”I want to become a pediatrician, especially for burn victims,” she said. “I want to give back to all of the people who helped me.”The first member of her family to graduate, Long says she has been like a celebrity these past weeks, trying to round up enough tickets to get everyone into the ceremony.