With a natural interest in helping others overcome challenges, Mary Ruby applied and was accepted into Maria College’s Occupational Therapy Assistant Program on February 27, 2019. But the very next day, she received a life-changing call from her neurologist.
Mary had brain cancer.
Her diagnosis would require six to eight weeks of chemotherapy and radiation, so when Mary decided she was going to continue with her plans to go to school, she naturally received some pushback.
“I felt like, ‘how dare you tell me I can’t do something,’ and I think that this was what actually drove me to keep going and pursue this degree,” she said.
During her time in treatment, Mary committed herself to taking courses part time despite receiving daily treatment that left her exhausted. She had to drop all in-person courses and commit only to those offered online. The online courses allowed her to pause the recordings and process the information more slowly as she was experiencing issues with her memory due to the cancer. She was also experiencing abnormalities in her personality, which created difficulties in her home life.
“I remember at one point breaking down and asking God, ‘If I am supposed to learn something from all of this, you have to show me.’”
Despite a dramatically challenging educational journey with significant obstacles and low points, Mary has said her drive to persevere, coupled with the support of the Maria College faculty, will result in her graduating with her Associate of Applied Science (AAS) Degree this December.
She said she is already utilizing the skills she has learned in her coursework at Maria at her job as a teaching assistant for students with special needs. She described working with a client who couldn’t feed himself because he couldn’t hold a fork. She helped create an alternative tool using household items.
“Now he can feed himself and we even go to restaurants,” she said. “Seeing him be able to experience more of the world is what I love about occupational therapy and what this has all been about.”
She is also utilizing what she learned at Maria to help care for her grandmother by getting her appropriate care and learning how to better advocate for her.
Mary is a single parent to two children with their own special needs and unique issues. She was raised in low income housing but has persevered to buy her own home, beat cancer and now, earn a college degree. She will be the first person in her family to do so.
“There will always be new obstacles,” she said. ”But my degree from Maria is getting me to a point in my life where I’m happy with myself and I can take care of my family.”