For anyone who’s ever raised a child alone, they know just how much work and dedication it takes. But then going to school to work in the medical field makes things far more challenging. That might be true but when determined to succeed, there’s always a way to succeed.
Her dream
From a young age, Cynthia Kudji dreamed of becoming a doctor. That’s all she wanted. But when she was 23, she had to put her plans on hold. That’s when she became pregnant with her daughter, Jasmine.
Switching to plan B
Although the thought of one-day helping people as a physician was never far from her mind, now with a baby, Cynthia went into nursing instead. Although that’s a wonderful career path, it wasn’t what this young woman wanted.
Working in the medical field
For Cynthia, at least as a nurse she stayed within the field of medicine. But in her heart, she didn’t feel complete. Yes, she had a respected job and a beautiful daughter but something was still missing from her life…becoming a doctor.
A decade of service
Over the next 10-plus years, Cynthia took care of patients and loved every minute of it. At the same time, she was super busy raising a daughter who was getting closer to her teenage years. But as this little girl grew older, something incredible happened.
A shared passion
For most of her life, Cynthia had one goal in mind, which never wavered. But later in life, she discovered that Jasmine shared her same passion. She too wanted to work in medicine. That brought a sense of joy to this mother and daughter duo and made them even closer than they already were.
Moving forward
After many years in nursing, Cynthia had the opportunity to finish her education so she become the one thing she wanted…a doctor. But then, Jasmine decided that she too wanted to go to college to work toward earning her medical degree.
Different directions
This mother and daughter had always been close. Now, for them to achieve their goals, they’d have to go to different schools. While it’d be hard, they both knew they had to move forward. So, Cynthia started her studies at the University of Medicine and Health Sciences while Jasmine headed off to the LSU School of medicine.
Separated but determined
Even with the two far from each other, they stayed in close contact. They also became each other’s biggest supporters. As Jasmine stated, “I think initially it was difficult because my mom and I have always been really close so I had to get used to the distance.”
Long-distance support
Jasmine continued by saying, “We had to learn how to FaceTime and Skype each other so we were Skyping each other every day and whenever I had struggles and she had struggles, we just had to learn to communicate from a distance but I think over tie we figured it out.” And they did.
Bringing their dreams to fruition
It took a while but this past April, both Cynthia, and Jasmine finished their programs. Just as they had done with so many things in their life, they graduated at the same time…from different schools.
Today, Cynthia is an M.D. in Family Medicine while Jasmine works as an M.D. in General Surgery. They did it, together. But that’s not where their story ends. This mother and daughter don’t like being so far away from each other. So, to complete their residencies, they’ll both soon be attending LSU Health. Way to go, ladies.
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