MUSKEGON, Mich. — A recent Ferris State University graduate was inspired to follow her current career path thanks to her childhood cancer diagnosis.
Luci Archer graduated from Ferris State at the beginning of May. Long before she walked across the graduation stage, however, she battled cancer at the age of six. She received chemotherapy at Helen Devos Children's Hospital, lost her hair, but thankfully made it to remission by age eight.
Archer said while it was a scary few years, many of her memories of that time are happy ones thanks to working with child life specialists in the hospital.
She said, "they would do therapeutic play, they'd talk to me, they would really single me out to make sure that I felt valued and appreciated within the hospital," and, "there were so much good sprinkled in, that the good is really what my brain held onto."
Fast forward, Archer was back at the hospital, but for a child life specialist career day. That's when her picture popped up on the slideshow.
"I raised my hand and I was like, 'yeah so that's me in the photo in case you're wondering what the impact looks like,'" she told 13 ON YOUR SIDE.
Today, Archer is fresh out of college with a degree in early childhood education and a child life specialist concentration. She currently works with children with unique medical needs at a local preschool.
While she's not sure exactly what's next in her career, she has several ideas like writing books to help explain medical conditions to children or helping siblings of sick children process their experiences.
One thing she's sure of though, "I just want help kids at the end of the day and make sure that they get the encouragement that they need to be successful the way that I was."
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