{"id":8035,"date":"2023-05-09T13:32:42","date_gmt":"2023-05-09T17:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/?p=8035"},"modified":"2023-05-05T13:38:49","modified_gmt":"2023-05-05T17:38:49","slug":"class-of-23-a-year-later-than-expected-graduate-fought-hard-to-walk-across-the-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/2023\/05\/09\/class-of-23-a-year-later-than-expected-graduate-fought-hard-to-walk-across-the-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"Class of \u201923: A year later than expected, graduate fought hard to walk across the stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

To mark the graduation of the Class of 2023, Marketing & Communications is profiling several students who were nominated by staff and faculty for their contributions to the University and their potential to make a difference after graduation.\u202fClick here<\/a>\u00a0for more information about 2023 commencement exercises.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"KeaganOn May 13, Keagan Tremel will walk across the commencement stage to pick up her diploma like hundreds of other graduates. For her, though, it\u2019s an especially important accomplishment, because not very long ago, she was told she might never walk again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am able to do this because I had a lot of support, from my family, friends and the faculty,\u201d Tremel said.<\/p>\n

She had chosen Detroit Mercy\u2019s Nursing program at the Aquinas Campus in Grand Rapids because her family was moving from Hartland to Holland and she wanted to be close to home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I was moving to the west side of the state,\u201d she said. \u201cDetroit Mercy has a direct admit to the Nursing program and that was what really made me choose it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in September 2018, three and a half weeks into her freshman year, Tremel was in a brutal car accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had just started making friends,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s always weird to retell it. The accident broke part of my vertebrae and I was immediately paralyzed. When I woke up in the hospital I was told I would most likely never walk again.\u201d<\/p>\n

An eight-hour surgery repaired the damage, but the recovery would be hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI call it my \u2018fake\u2019 back,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of metal in it and I have a 12-inch scar on my back.\u201d On the bright side, she jokes, \u201cI grew an inch during the surgery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emerging from the surgery was only the beginning of her long road back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in a wheelchair exclusively until May 2019,\u201d she said. \u201cI had great support from my family and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

A lot of support came also from the school, mostly in the form of Ivy Razmus, assistant professor and Suzanne Keep, associate professor and site director for the pre-licensure program in Grand Rapids.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Keep was with my parents in the Intensive Care Unit for most of the day. She held my spot in the school for a year due to medical reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tremel returned to classes in August 2019, walking with a leg brace.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Keep, even though she isn\u2019t my main professor, has been the most supportive advisor,\u201d Tremel said. Keep helped her get accommodations, including being allowed to get to class late, seeing as Tremel was new to walking. When cold weather made the pavement slick, Keep contacted workers to ensure sidewalks were salted.<\/p>\n

Though back in classes, arrangements still had to be made for the clinical placements that are so important to the Nursing program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t drive,\u201d Tremel said. \u201cI was terrified.\u201d Her best friend offered to drive her to the placement sites.<\/p>\n

But she was back in school and making headway toward earning her bachelor of Nursing degree, something she had thought about for a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing that drew me to nursing was that I have six nieces and nephews, and being around them made me think I could be a nurse,\u201d Tremel said.<\/p>\n

And after her accident, she was certain that was where she should be.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I saw what the emergency room nurses did and how all the nurses helped me \u2014 I wanted to do for others what they did for me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She has been active in the campus\u2019 Student Nurses Association for years and is currently vice president.<\/p>\n

Her walking is getting better, she said, though it\u2019s not yet to where she was before the accident.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t matter to Tremel, though. She has her eyes on her commencement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to finally graduate,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd to do it walking.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On May 13, Keagan Tremel will walk across the commencement stage to pick up her diploma like hundreds of other graduates. For her, though, it\u2019s an especially important accomplishment, because not very long ago, she was told she might never walk again.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":8036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[17,29],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/88\/2023\/05\/tremel_side.jpeg?fit=400%2C290&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Kcng-25B","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8035"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8035"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8037,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8035\/revisions\/8037"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}