When brown-eyed Melissa entered the world in June 1992, no one could’ve imagined she’d grow up to be a front-line worker during the Great Pandemic of 2020. By all counts, she was an ordinary, albeit adorably cute, little girl; scared of the dark and best friends with her older brother.
Everything changed when she was stricken with acute appendicitis at the tender age of six. At the time we lived in a different town almost two hundred miles away. Although it’s been over twenty years since the day I drove to see her in the hospital, I still remember how tiny she looked in that hospital bed.
I’m her aunt, so my memories of the event are certainly not as clear as my sister’s, her mom, but it seems like she was in the hospital for weeks. As I recall, doctors were very concerned about her little body and all the toxins the ruptured appendix released. To this day she has a gnarly scar on her abdomen, a forever reminder of the health crisis she overcame.
Although I cannot pinpoint the exact day she made her decision to become a nurse, I do know her career choice was most certainly based on her own medical experience.Lots of little kids dream of growing up to be doctors, lawyers, nurses, or firefighters. Many of them go on to pursue those careers, but many change their minds multiple times and eventually choose another path, not Melissa. From the time she was hospitalized with appendicitis in 1998 to the time she graduated from nursing school in 2019, she never wavered in her career path, we all knew Melissa would eventually become an RN.
The path from a sick child to a degree-holding adult was not an easy one for her to trail blaze. Not everyone in our family chose the path of higher education which left her without an ample supply of degreed role models. Homeschooled from her early elementary school years through high school, the transition to an extremely structured college environment wasn’t easy. No matter, Melissa never made excuses, she just persisted in pursuing her dream.
She didn’t just go to school, she also worked. Following a high school job at Chuck E. Cheese, all of Melissa’s adult jobs were in the health industry. Each of her non-nursing positions was intentional, with the express intent of gaining experience in the profession of choice.
As often happens in the midst of us pursuing our dreams, life interjects its twists and turns. Melissa got married and then gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, still, she worked towards her goals. Being a wife and mother may have slowed her pursuit, but her new roles didn’t mean the end of her dreams.
The day she graduated was a proud one for her entire family. We’d all seen her determination finally pay off. She passed the NCLEX (nursing licensing exam) on the first try. Melissa had been an RN for just a year when COVID-19 put the world in an international health crisis. I can’t help but think, she’s been preparing for this moment in time her entire life! She could never have predicted where she’d find herself, but I’ve no doubt God knew. The Biblical story of Esther is one of my favorites and I believe that just as Esther was chosen to set the Jewish people free, Melissa was appointed to be a caregiver during this crisis.
Much like pursuing her education was fraught with trials, being a nurse during a pandemic such as the one we are currently experiencing, is also fraught with trials. No doubt she’s probably scared every. single. day. She’s likely exhausted twenty-four/seven and yet she continues to selflessly care not only for her patients but for her young daughter. As a single mom now, living two hundred miles from her parents and siblings, she carries the additional weight of caring for her daughter when she’s emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted.
No matter what she’s faced, I’ve never known Melissa to grumble or complain about her circumstances. I’m sure she’s broken a time or two in private, but it’s not her normal behavior. I’m so incredibly proud of the woman she’s become, how she worked hard to pursue her dreams and how she’s risking her health every day by serving on the front lines.
The dreams of a six-year-old girl may just be saving the world, one patient at a time. Never let your dreams die for you too may be appointed for “such a time as this.”
Until Next Time,
Becky J Miller
“Warrior Princess”