A nurse at UC Health learned the patient she was caring for was responsible for a scholarship that helped her become a nurse.
Karen Sanders worked as a nurse for 30 years at UC Health Daniel Drake Center, overcoming many obstacles to get there.
“Single mom with a child in kindergarten, and up until then, she had worked so many different jobs,” her daughter Kara said.
But Sanders never gave up and kept pursuing her dreams of becoming a nurse. Decades later, her daughters created a scholarship in her name for single mothers enrolled in nursing schools at UC Blue Ash.
“We gave it to her for Christmas,” Kara said.
Last fall, Sanders was admitted to UC Medical Center. The day before she died, a nurse entered the room wearing a UC shirt.
That nurse, Stephanie Neff, said she attended UC Blue Ash and thanks to the Karen Sanders Scholarship, she was able to become a nurse.
“And I said my mom is Karen Sanders,” Kara said. “Everybody started crying. And Stephanie hadn’t made the connection before because my mom’s first name was Dolores. So that was on all of her paperwork and on her charts. So, Stephanie had been caring for the woman whose scholarship she received, and she didn’t know it.”
“Tears started immediately,” Neff said.
Neff says that the scholarship helped her get through a time that felt nearly impossible.
“I became a single mother in September of 2018,” Neff said. “My husband had actually passed away in a car accident, so my son was five months at that time.”
Neff now works in the same hospital, on the same floor, where her husband was treated.
“When he passed away, the nurses and the doctors showed me so much comfort, so much support,” Neff said. “I told myself that if I’m going to go to school, I want to make somebody feel as good as they did when I was there with the terrible situation and, you know, life being turned upside down.”
Sanders died just 18 hours after she and her family met Neff. Sanders’ legacy now lives on in the many lives she touched.
“That this can help and be part of her legacy, I think, is incredible,” said Kristin Moser, Sanders’ daughter.
The sisters hope to expand the scholarship to help more single mothers become nurses. To learn more about the scholarship or donate, click here.
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