Emily Kmiecik is in her second year of Harper’s nursing program, but it hasn’t been
an easy road. In fact, she wasn’t initially drawn to nursing, until a fateful day
in May 2013.
As Emily explained, “When I was three years old, nurses were scary people who gave
me shots. In high school, I saw nurses as scholars and deemed myself unworthy of ever
holding such a title. However, on May 4, 2013, the word “nurse” changed for me the
day I fainted at work. Nothing prepared me for that visit to the ER, when the doctor
looked at me with concern after reading my blood tests and said, ‘we think you have
Leukemia.’”
Life changed dramatically for Emily that day. At the time, she was 22 years old, working
full-time and living on her own. “Once I became sick, I became dependent on my parents
again. I moved back into their house,” noted Emily. Emily spent months in the hospital
and dealt with invasive surgeries due to complications. Yet, she felt that being diagnosed
with cancer at 22 years old was a blessing in disguise. “It forced me to become a
strong individual, and it led me to nursing. I knew I needed to become a nurse to
help others in my situation. This disease has been the catalyst to my hard work and
made me a more confident student and overall individual. Before this disease I was
a bit lost in life; I had dabbled in school but could not find the true passion that
I knew was missing. However, this disease opened my eyes to my capabilities and my
love for health, medicine, compassion and humanity. I can now say that I love school
and although nursing school is definitely not easy, I am willing to go the extra length
and put my best effort into achieving this academic dream of mine. I have never been
more passionate for something in my entire life” said Emily.
Although Emily is not nearly as sick as she was, she still must visit her oncologist monthly, whether for chemotherapy or a spinal tap. Despite not always feeling up to it, she attends class every single day and works hard to stay positive. And her effort is paying off. She has been on the Dean’s list for two semesters and is getting A’s in challenging courses such as Physiology and Microbiology.
“Instead of allowing my Illness to hinder my life, I have decided to learn from it. My battle with cancer will give me a perspective that many nurses do not have. I believe that seeing illness from the view of the patient will allow me to be a more thoughtful and inspiring nurse to those patients that I encounter. I cannot wait to be on the other side of the bed and use my gift to help others.”
Battling cancer is not only draining, both physically and mentally, but also very
expensive. “Along with my monthly procedures, I take chemotherapy medications, steroids,
antibiotics and other medicine every day,” added Emily. The costs add up, and Emily
does what she can to make ends meet – working 20 hours a week while going to school.
“Because of my debt from continuing hospital bills, I cannot move out on my own and
support myself. My parents had been planning on retiring before I got sick, but now
they are working harder than ever in order to help pay for my school. They had also
planned on selling our house, but since I am still there, they had to postpone that
as well.”
Fortunately for Emily, the Harper Educational Foundation offers an array of scholarships
that could help her out. In fact, Emily’s scholarship application received the highest
ratings by the review committee, and she earned the Thompson-Holton Endowed Scholarship,
Midge C. Smith Memorial Scholarship and Wilford Family Endowed Scholarship, which
totaled more than $2,000 in scholarship funds. “The gift of these scholarships takes
weight off my shoulders and also takes stress off my parents, who deserve it just
as much as I do,” acknowledged a grateful Emily.
