In her own words, Jessica L. was, “getting her life together.”
She had made the decision to enroll in ECU’s Psychology program, an ECU Online Flight Path program during the summer term. She was already looking at graduate programs, ready to take the next step in her career.
Then in the fall, she was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer. After her diagnosis, one of the first things she thought about was her education.
Jessica made the decision to continue on in her coursework, and was heartened by the support she received from her Student Success Coach and her ECU professors who gave her the flexibility she needed to fight cancer and continue her education.
For example, her regular chemotherapy treatments left her drained and unable to focus on schoolwork. She worked with professors so that she could get most of her schoolwork done at the furthest from her chemotherapy treatment, so that she could have the physical and mental energy to focus on quizzes and tests.
“I did think about finishing my degree immediately, because I didn’t want to be slowed down”
This often meant starting her coursework when she felt better, finishing her assignments up until her next round of treatment, and doing it all over again. Jessica credits her schooling with being a guiding light in her treatment.
“I love school, and I love learning,” Jessica laughed. “I haven’t let it slow me down at all. It’s honestly been one of my big motivators to get treatment and get it done.”
In addition to her coursework and treatment, she also had to balance her work at Sylvan Heights Bird Park, which she says has been incredibly accommodating to her circumstances. Balancing all this and attending courses in person would have been impossible, she said, as she lives an hour and a half from ECU’s campus in Greenville. If she wasn’t enrolled in an online program, she would have had to drop out of school.
“It would have been a super huge bummer if I had started a program and then suddenly couldn’t do it anymore,” Jessica said. But through her own perseverance and determination, coupled with the flexibility the Psychology Flight Path program offered her, Jessica walked across the stage at ECU’s commencement ceremony as a proud graduate.
She said her prognosis is encouraging, and if all goes well, she will stop chemotherapy treatment in July and then become the first person in her family to attend graduate school in August. “I’m graduating bald,” she said, “but I am graduating.”
