A Miraculous Story of Survival, and My Dream to Make a Difference by Cheryl

A Miraculous Story of Survival, and My Dream to Make a Difference by Cheryl - February 2024 Scholarship Essay

The room was dark and silent except for the beeping of the ICU equipment surrounding me. My head pounded and throbbed with unimaginable pain. My eyes were squeezed tightly shut because any light only amplified the pain. Was this all a terrible dream? Was I, the nurse who had always cared for patients in their most critical moments, now the patient myself? It was not a dream. This was my real, life-or-death reality.
On July 12, 2023 I suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm, was bleeding into my subarachnoid space, and wasn’t sure if I would survive. If I did live, would I ever be myself again? Would I have permanent neurological deficits? What about my family? What about my dreams? I had so many dreams.
One of those dreams was to go back to school to become a Family Nurse Practitioner. Ironically, it was neurology that led me into nursing: my grandma suffered a massive ischemic stroke in 2004. I spent the next six months of my life devoted to caring for her and being by her side while she worked hard to regain mobility. I knew immediately that I needed to become a nurse, so that I could take care of people in their greatest times of need. I graduated from nursing school in 2007, and spent the next fourteen years working on a surgical step-down unit.
In 2020 my dad was diagnosed with Parkinsons Disease. I began attending the Peterson Foundation for Parkinson’s meetings in Franklin after moving to Tennessee in 2021 and soon began to dream of working in a clinic setting where I could see my same sweet neurology patients year after year. I would find so much fulfillment in serving a variety of patients with varying health issues, but neurology was beginning to hold a very special place in my heart.
I started researching Family Nurse Practitioner programs and imagining a future working in a clinic setting with neurology patients, or perhaps at a skilled nursing facility someday. My heart has always had such a soft spot for the elderly, and I know that this patient population is only going to grow as the baby boomer generation continues to age. I am passionate about them receiving excellent care and not being forgotten.
I never could have imagined that I was months away from suffering a life-threatening neurologic injury myself. Fifty percent of people who suffer a ruptured brain aneurysm die. Sixty-six percent have some kind of permanent neurological damage. My complete recovery is truly a miracle story, and I am determined to continue to give back to the world by providing excellent nursing care.
I begin Frontier Nursing University’s Family Nurse Practitioner Program in the spring. My heart is overjoyed that I have the opportunity to go back to school. The world needs skilled practitioners who have a deep and genuine concern for their patients’ health and well-being. Becoming a nurse practitioner will enable me to pursue my dreams of continuing to provide care for patients and their families in their greatest time of need.