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For Leah Dickerson Andrews, nursing has taken a different direction.

She said she has known since her teen years what her chosen profession would be. “When I was 16 years old, my grandmother was in and out of the hospital with congestive heart failure and I saw what the nurses did for her. It became a calling.”

After graduating from Floyd County High School in 2011, she attended New River Community College, where she pursued an associate’s degree in nursing. She graduated in June 2014, became licensed as a Registered Nurse and started working at LewisGale Hospital in Blacksburg – where her grandmother had been hospitalized years ago.

A month after she began working at the hospital, her mother Eunice got a diagnosis of terminal cancer. She also became a patient in the same hospital.

Leah said her co-workers embraced her and the family during this difficult time. “They were wonderful.” Her hospital friends even planned a wedding for her and fiancé Jacob. “Your mom is having a good day so far,” a co-worker told her as she was coming off the night shift that morning. “Why don’t you get married so she has time to enjoy the wedding?’” After the decision was made, the co-workers had about 6 hours to make it happen. The hospital catered the evening wedding. It was a special time for all. Eunice passed away on October 2, about two weeks later.

At the time of her mother’s fight against Stage 4 cancer, Leah said the thoughts of working in oncology first emerged. “Obviously it was not the right time for me. But my mom is kind of the one that paved the path for my passion.”

Three years later, she found herself back in school, at Liberty University, as she worked toward a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing. As part of a cohort with LewisGale employees, she has been working online and attending a once a week class in Salem. She will complete her nursing classes next month. She should graduate in May 2018.

“When I started the fall semester at the end of August,” Leah said, “I just had this really big tug on my heart (that said) ‘you need to get your chemo certification’.” She went on to complete the certification in 4 days. “It usually takes people a month or two to finish it,” she commented. “I know it was in God’s hand.”

At the beginning of September, a good friend, who had worked at the hospital and was now working at the Blue Ridge Cancer Care in Blacksburg, told her a position was open and that she should apply.

“I prayed about it, and the Lord kept leading me,” Leah said.

She applied and was accepted.

Although she will have to pay back some of the tuition for her nursing courses, things have worked out so that is manageable, she commented. “That was a huge blessing.”

She began working at her new job on Monday, October 16.

“I’m so glad I listened,” Leah said. “I cannot tell you how much I love it.”

A Floyd County resident, Leah is also active in 4-H. She started as a camper beginning in 4th grade, became a CIT (Counselor in Training) and then a teen leader and is now an adult leader. Her parents, Julius and Eunice, also worked in 4-H together. Julius continues to be a 4-H volunteer and drives a school bus. Her sister, Mary, also active in 4-H, is a sixth grade teacher at Check Elementary School.

Jacob and Leah met as children at Riner Grace Brethren Church, and they still attend there. Jacob works at the Kroger fuel center in Christiansburg.

Leah misses her co-workers at the hospital, but she said nursing has now taken her in the direction she has always wanted. At Blue Ridge Cancer Care, days are busy, and it’s not easy, but “you get to know your patients, and they get to know you.”

To Leah, nursing “is a responsibility to give the kind of care you would want your family to have.”

Leah said her mother has given her the drive to help the cancer patients. “If I had not had the experience with my mom, I wouldn’t be able to understand as well…and help the patients and families get through this.”Read more at:http://www.sheindressau.com/wedding-dresses-au | http://www.sheindressau.com/wedding-dresses-adelaide