Sarah Synovec graduated from SBS in 2011. While she was a student she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Jean Ortiz Jones, University Communications

Sarah Synovec should have been elated as she stood atop the Eiffel Tower. But after climbing hundreds of stairs during that trip with her family the summer before her sophomore year at UNL, she found herself disappointingly reminded that something was very wrong.

“I was so exhausted. I could barely stand up and look out,” she said. “It was very upsetting to me because I didn’t realize why I was so tired all of the time.”

Soon after returning to her home state of Kansas, she found her answer. She was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system.

A chest x-ray revealed a tumor that was more than five inches in diameter. Lymph nodes in her neck showed signs of the disease, too.
The news initially was crushing to Synovec, a biological sciences major who had long dreamed of going into a career in emergency medicine and trauma surgery.

“I really honestly thought that it was all over,” she said of her career ambitions. “I thought, ‘How am I going to be able to keep up? How am I going to compete getting into medical school with these kids who are totally healthy?’”
She vowed to remain positive.

“It really inspired me. I knew that’s what I wanted to do now. I had been the patient…I could bring so much to medicine because I had that personal experience,” she said.

She underwent six months of chemotherapy all while forging ahead with her sophomore year. She found support in family, friends and her other family – the UNL community. Among those who helped keep her dreams on track was her academic adviser, Wendy O’Connor. Synovec called her a “godsend.”

Besides helping keep her academic plans in order, O’Connor also came through when Synovec needed to move from her sorority house to an off-campus apartment. Living alone was a necessary step because of her fragile immune system while she underwent treatment. O’Connor recommended her own apartment complex, saying it made sense because she’d be close by if Synovec needed a ride to a doctor’s appointment or other help when Synovec’s own family couldn’t be there.

“She was just willing to do anything for me,” Synovec said. “She’s just wonderful.”
What’s inspiring about Synovec is that she never played the victim, nor was she unrealistic about the difficult journey she faced after her diagnosis, O’Connor said. She’s driven, maintained high expectations of herself academically and still completed her bachelor’s degree in four years.

Synovec, who has been in remission since December 2008, graduated from UNL in August.

She takes with her rich experiences from taking field classes at Cedar Point Biological Station to pursuing cancer research with chemist David Berkowitz and working on the Walt Whitman Archive with Ken Price, co-director of UNL’s Center for Digital Research in the Humanities.

“I really wanted to be involved because I really wanted this place to feel like home,” she said. “Coming from out of state, I think it’s so important to have ownership in your university.”

Synovec also collected several honors, including being named to the College of Arts and Sciences’ Dean’s Scholars Society. The experience helped her connect with the deans of the college, she said.

“It was really cool that I could see that the dean and all of these people on top really care about the college and its students,” she said.
Her next step in life takes her back to the place where she was treated for cancer. She is attending medical school at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, with plans to specialize in oncology.