At the age of twenty-eight months, I defied doctors and walked ten feet across the basement floor to my waiting father’s arms. My father had convinced them nineteen months earlier to save my legs rather than amputate above the knee after a tragic family accident burned me so badly doctors were convinced there was no other way to escape deadly infection. Having passed away six years ago, he can no longer catch me at the finish lines of the marathons and triathlons I now compete in, yet my father's belief in me inspires me still in all aspects of my life to chase after my dreams.
At the age of twenty-nine, I am making a significant career change to pursue an advanced degree in nursing because I want to inspire patients to take charge of their health, well-being, and quality of life. Over the past ten years, as my personal life has taken me from fat to fit and couch potato to endurance athlete, my professional life has opened my eyes to the vast improvements needed to institute behavior change across our population.
With an advanced degree in nursing, I strive to work in a primary care practice where I can advise patients on making changes in their daily life to improve their overall health. My primary objective is to learn how to educate patients effectively on the ways that simple changes in lifestyle like increasing exercise, losing weight, and eating more vegetables can create immense positive change in their overall health. My goal is to learn about or create a simple program that will allow people slowly to adopt changes into their daily lives that increase overall health and lower likelihood of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic preventable illnesses. One of the many reasons that Simmons College’s Direct Entry program is so appealing is due to their focus on family health and primary care practice.
I am well suited to this profession as I have always been a very strong-willed, motivated and high-spirited individual. I also believe my personal history will help me understand where patients are coming from in their struggles as I treat and care for them. At the age of nine months, I was in an explosion with my mother, father and sister. My mother was killed instantly, while my sister and I sustained extensive burns on our arms, legs and faces. My legs were burned so badly that doctors informed my father that my legs would require amputation because the risk of infection was too high. My father asked that the doctors try harder to save them, and do anything to avoid amputation. They agreed, but insisted I would never walk. Because of the amazing clinical care at the Mayo Clinic, all but my two pinky toes were saved, and indeed I did walk, starting with those first steps across the basement to my father when I was just over two.
When my surgeries slowed and I became a “regular kid,” I started gaining weight. I graduated from high school academically successful, but tipping the scales at just under 300 pounds. After being inspired to live healthier and feel better by a friend and mentor, I began to exercise as well as forgo my beloved fast food for healthier options. These two simple, but by no means easy, changes added up to a weight loss of over 130 pounds, the revival of my spirit and positive energy, and a desire to learn everything possible about healthful eating and staying fit and healthy.
With my newfound health and fitness, I was both terrified to gain the weight back and also incredibly motivated to see just how much I could accomplish physically. After moving to Boston and watching the 2002 Boston Marathon, I decided the marathon would be my next conquest. Since 2002, I have completed an Ironman Triathlon and 13 marathons, including eight consecutive Boston Marathons as a member of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge. I run each year to raise money in memory of my father - my hero, the man who saved my legs so many years ago. I’ve also maintained my healthy weight!
Professionally, I have spent the past three and a half years working in development at the American Heart Association, focused both on fundraising and working to implement programs that address employee health and well-being. I have come to realize that more needs to be done to reach the American working public. Too many people, though generally informed on issues of prevention, are unaware of the cost of their daily failures in making good choices and proactively caring for themselves. Far too few Americans meet the bare minimum of thirty minutes of exercise a day. In addition, people not only scoff at the idea of eating fresh vegetables and unprocessed foods on a daily basis, but they laugh as though it is inconsequential.
An advanced practice nursing degree will allow me to use my life experiences as a patient and career experience as a health-educator to care directly for patients and to help them understand how crucial their role is in maintaining their health. I have stood in the uncomfortable position of knowing that changes need to happen, I have made the changes, and I have worked diligently to maintain them. Rather than conveying a “do what I say, not what I do” attitude, my goal is to encourage patients to join me on my life long journey of sustained health and well-being, and I look forward to achieving my goal as a Nurse Practitioner by studying at Simmons College.
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