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From Adversity to Academic Achievement
Nurse Cheryl Flowers earned dual master's degrees while recovering from a traumatic brain injury
It takes ambition and effort to complete a master's degree. Earning dual master's degrees is even more impressive. Especially when the graduate had to learn how to learn all over again.
Cheryl A. Flowers will walk across the Wilmington University graduation stage on May 21 to accept her dual Master of Science degrees in executive nurse leadership and management/healthcare administration, with honors. She'll be crossing the stage at the Chase Center on the Riverfront nearly five years after a traumatic brain injury impaired her ability to read, write and calculate.
"It's been a long road," said Flowers, a registered nurse and clinical educator with 17 years' experience, including more than a decade in the emergency department at Kent General Hospital in Dover. "At the start, there was that little piece of me that said, 'I can't do this.' But I wanted to do it, and I knew that I could do it. I forced myself to do it."
In August 2012, Flowers was preparing to deliver a presentation on in-home safety at the Milford Senior Center when a car crashed into the building, striking her and three others who were standing near a window. She was helicoptered to Christiana Care Hospital in critical condition and spent the next 14 months in intensive rehabilitation that included speech therapy and relearning the most basic learning skills.
She began her master's in management in the fall semester of 2014. "My doctor said graduate studies would be way too much," she recalled. "A determination and grit part of me that I cannot explain felt an obligation to myself."
It wasn't easy; not by any means. She had lost the hearing in her left ear and still suffers physical pain. "Considering all the struggles it took to read and write again, doing a 30-page paper seemed impossible," said Flowers, whose back injuries required her to type her assignments standing up.
"I persevered with the support of my parents and my co-workers," she said.
Along the way, she has distinguished herself with induction into three national honor societies. During commencement exercises, she'll be sporting the cords of Sigma Theta Tau for nursing, Sigma Beta Delta for business management, and Delta Alpha Pi for high academic achievement among disabled students.
In November she was also recognized as 2016's Healthcare Educator of the Year by her former employer, Bayhealth Medical Center, which operates Kent General.
"To be recognized for what I do every day was a big accomplishment," she said. "They see me upholding the standards of nursing, striving for excellence not only in myself but also in my students, and I am honored."
An accident can change your life, and it can change how you see your life, said Flowers. "I look at things very differently now," she said. "I know I can do anything. I am so grateful for this opportunity.
"I know that people going through tough times sometimes give up on their goals. They say, 'There's no way I'd be able to make it through that, not with everything that's stacked against me.' But I'm hoping that my story gives other students and nurses hope and inspiration when they're facing adversity in life."
About Wilmington University
Wilmington University is a private, nonprofit institution committed to providing flexible, career-oriented, traditional and online associate, undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs. Ranked as the second fastest growing nonprofit doctoral institution in America 2004 – 2014 by The Almanac of The Chronicle of Higher Education, affordable tuition, academic excellence and individualized attention are hallmarks of the University that enable greater student success in their chosen careers. For more information, contact Wilmington University at 302-356-INFO (4636), via email at infocenter@wilmu.edu, or visit our website: www.wilmu.edu.
