After facing unimaginable loss at a young age, Molly Guillaume is turning her pain into purpose.
This spring, she will graduate from New York Presbyterian Iona School of Health Services with a degree in nursing, honoring the legacy of her late mother, who was a nurse on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Guillaume’s journey has been anything but easy.
At just 14 years old, she lost her father to multiple strokes and dementia. Four years later, as she was preparing to enter adulthood, her mother, a dedicated healthcare worker, contracted COVID-19 and passed away. Left without parents or siblings, Guillaume had to navigate the world on her own.
“I couldn’t sleep for two weeks straight after my mom passed,” she recalled during an interview with ABC7 New York. “I would sleep with the lights on because I was like, what’s going on here?”
Despite her heartbreak, Guillaume found strength in her mother’s words, which encouraged her to become someone of purpose. Inspired by the care and dedication her mother displayed throughout her career, she decided to follow in her footsteps and pursue nursing.
Her perseverance has not gone unnoticed.
Faculty members at the nursing school describe Guillaume as a compassionate caregiver whose life experiences have shaped her into an extraordinary nurse.
“She is driven and motivated, and she’s also an advocate—not just for herself, but for her patients,” said Shery Watson, Director of Nursing. “And you can’t really teach that. You just have to have it in you.”
Guillaume credits her father for instilling confidence and determination in her, and she remains steadfast in her belief that her parents are still with her every step of the way.
“My mom always told me to go out there and become somebody—whether I become an architect or a gardener—but to become somebody of purpose,” she said.
As she prepares to walk across the graduation stage, Guillaume knows her parents will have a front-row seat to the moment they helped set in motion years ago.
