NEWS

Grays graduate with honors, despite numerous obstacles

Sara Davis

COSHOCTON – Victoria Gray was a nursing student working toward her bachelor’s degree in April 2010 when she was faced with the scare of a lifetime. Her husband, Dennis, had been admitted to Grant Medical Center where he would receive three stints in his heart in an effort to keep him alive.

“At that time in my life I was a heavy drinker and smoker,” Dennis recounted. “The message that was clear to me ... I needed to either get busy living or get busy dying.”

Dennis and Victoria were in the midst of career changes. Dennis decided to join his wife in the medical field by enrolling alongside her in Ohio University Zanesville’s nursing program. “I felt I had a story to tell people who were struggling with addictions or other trials and tribulations that they felt they could not rise above, and my testimony provided a sense of hope that they could indeed make a change in their lives,” Dennis said.

The Coshocton couple did achieve their goals and recently graduated from Ohio University Zanesville. However, they encountered obstacles and challenges along the way, from transportation struggles and fears of failure to severe medical complications. In their last year in the program, they were faced with yet another unexpected situation – Dennis had a posterior nose bleed that nearly cost him his life.

“He became unresponsive in the ER and had to be transferred to PACU (post-anesthesia care unit) in critical condition,” Victoria said. He started to improve and was moved to a private room after three days. As the nurse was preparing discharge papers, his nose started to bleed. Within 15 minutes, he was in emergency surgery. “He had a 50/50 chance of the surgery being successful,” Victoria recalled.

Victoria remained at the hospital, by her husband’s side, the entire time. Her supportive parents cared for the couple’s teenage daughter and delivered their computer and essentials so they could work on their assignments. When Dennis was released from the hospital eight days later, he was weak and had lost a great deal of weight. Victoria’s parents stayed with him so she could go back to work.

During this time, both Dennis and Victoria still had their studies to focus on which proved to be difficult with Dennis’s compromised health. “We were able to complete our assignments and we are both graduating cum laude,” Victoria said.

“I have been able to share my story with many people who were looking for inspiration to overcome objectives or addictions,” Dennis said. “I can honestly tell you that I have been able to do what I set out to do when I started this journey.”

“Our education was a priority,” Victoria explained. “And we worked through these hurdles to accomplish our goals.”

Sara Davis is a 2010 Communication Studies graduate from Ohio University and Ohio University Zanesville staff member.