UUSOP Guest Speaker

This afternoon I was honored to be a guest speaker at Union University, here in Jackson.  My good friend Bethany (or....Dr. Murphy!) is a professor at the Union University School of Pharmacy and she asked me last week if I would be willing to share my story with the pharmacy students as well as some of the faculty.  Of course I said yes, as I considered this a very high honor!

Bethany asked me to share my story from beginning to end, which I did.  I went allllll the way back to the beginning and walked them through every step of my illness and allowed them to understand how I ultimately got to this point.  She also asked me to highlight some of the things that have stood out to me (good and bad) as a patient throughout this journey.  I put together some slides with pictures of myself interacting with various health care professionals who I thought went over and beyond the call of duty.  I emphasized how even just the smallest gestures can make a world of difference in the life of a chronically ill patient who is constantly in and out of hospitals, doctors' offices, labs, etc.  It doesn't take much---a smile, a touch, answering a few extra questions, just being a generally HAPPY person!  It all goes a long way in making my journey that much easier and more pleasant.  She also allowed me to get on my organ donation platform and share some statistics and some personal feelings on the matter.  I encouraged the students to strongly consider becoming donors if they aren't already.  I hope that I somehow gave each of the students something they could take away---whether it be more empathy for their patients, a better understanding of chronic illnesses or simply a deeper consideration for organ donation.  

The students were so gracious and appreciative of my time but I was actually the one who appreciated them listening to me!  I had a captive audience of somewhere between 20 and 25 people, including my Mom as well as Matthew and also my transplant buddy Jay who is a professor at Union as well.  I spoke for about an hour, which is longer than I thought I would talk but once I got going I just had so much to share.  

Here are a few pictures......

Me and sweet Bethany.....errr...."Dr. Murphy"  =)

I hadn't been feeling so great today and was a little weak on my feet, even more so than normal.  I did NOT want a repeat of the DQ experience so Bethany allowed me to sit while I gave my presentation.  

Bethany introducing me

Afterwards, a few of the girls wanted pictures.  Of course I'm always down for that!!  The rest of the group was too camera shy but these girls jumped in!

Excluding myself, you're looking at a whole lot of smarts right there!!  I have so much respect and admiration for these students!  I had to take one semester of pharmacology for dental school and it was by far one of the hardest courses of my entire college career!  I wish I had their brains and beauty!

I also passed out the pink and green "Donate Life" bracelets with my name on them to anyone who wanted one.  Here they are proudly showing them off!

The students gave me gifts for coming!  So thoughtful!

They heard of my love for lime green =)

I really like this one!!  Maybe....just maybe....if I wear this shirt, put on my glasses and hold my head just right I will look smart enough for people to actually believe I'm a UUSOP student!

Thanks, Bethany and UUSOP for allowing me to come and speak!  I was so honored and so thankful to be able to share my story!