I’m sitting at my kitchen table booking a flight to the Middle East…talk about surreal.

How did I get here? To the place where I get to embark on this once in a lifetime adventure? Let me tell you a story…

When I was 18 years old, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. It was the summer between high school and college and I was so excited for a new chapter, even though I wasn’t entirely sure what to study. After my diagnosis, I promptly moved 6+ hours from home while managing a new illness. Needless to say, it was a struggle. After returning to Denver for my endocrinology appointments a handful of times and working with the amazing nurses at the Barbara Davis Center, I decided I wanted to do that. Be them. Help others. My passion for working with people  with diabetes was able to flourish and I couldn’t have been happier about my decision.

Fast forward to 2012. I was graduating nursing school and trying to decide if I wanted to go right into my masters program or work for a couple years as an RN and enjoy the feat I had just accomplished. I was feeling unsettled, like everything I had been working for my entire school career was ending and I didn’t know what direction to take, now that I had a choice.

One day, as the semester was coming to a close, a guest speaker came to campus to talk to the nursing classes about a global opportunity through the University of Nebraska Medical Center. There is a program in which the University partnered with a University in Nicaragua to allow medical and nursing students from the U.S to travel there and work in clinics and hospitals in a little town called Leon. My love for travel, desire to experience other cultures, and my unsettled mind jumped at the opportunity. By June, I was traveling to Nicaragua.

I can hands down say that working in a clinic in Nicaragua was one of the most life-changing experiences a person can have. Not only are you traveling in a new country and getting to experience all the beauty of a new place and culture, but you truly get to embed yourself into their day to day lives, and see far more than a tourist would, but as someone who lives, works, and loves the country and its people.

Being in Nicaragua only fueled my desire to expand access to healthcare on a global level. Seeing the poverty and difficulty in accessing healthcare opened my eyes to a life outside my little “bubble,” where a doctor is a relatively short waiting room visit away. However, real life came calling. A job and a mortgage and all the “adult things” I had waiting for me after college rushed in and invaded my life. Even though I had never cured my wanderlust, there were other things that needed my attention. My days were spent in the PACU of an outpatient surgery center where I loved my job, loved my patients, loved my coworkers, but could never shake the “something more” feeling.

Eventually, I moved from Nebraska back home to Colorado to take a job with Medtronic Diabetes as an RN covering the Barbara Davis Center. I couldn’t have been more overjoyed!! I got to use my nursing knowledge to help others with diabetes in the same center that inspired me to become a nurse in the first place! Quite literally my dream job. I can honestly say, I haven’t ever lost that feeling. My patients are my passion and knowing I get to make a difference in their lives is what motivates me and keeps me going every single day.

Medtronic is a global company that works in many different fields of medicine across the world and across poverty lines. In several conversations with my boss, I had mentioned my Nicaragua experience and how much global healthcare excites me. She, being the amazing leader she is, remembered that and when an email came into her inbox entitled “global clinical opportunity,” she forwarded it my way.

Now, I knew from the beginning this opportunity was in Saudi Arabia. Did that make me nervous? Absolutely!!! I still got on all the informational calls and eventually, they asked for a commitment from those interested. I committed. And here I am, booking a flight to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The goal of this project is that more patients with diabetes in the Middle East will have access to life-saving medical devices and will truly be successful going onto and maintaining therapy on insulin pumps. The team in Saudi Arabia needed some extra hands to train patients as well as input on processes, protocols, and education for physicians and nurses in various diabetes centers in the country. I am honored to say that I have the opportunity to assist and truly couldn’t be more excited!

So, that’s why I’m here. With a plane ticket to Saudi Arabia and the biggest smile on my face. To help others living with diabetes to see their illness not as a burden, but as a blessing. Because its truly been a blessing in my life….

Written 2-1-2016

Dr J’s Comments

A courageous and inspiring young woman. Thank you for your story. I wish you safety and an awesome experience.