What was supposed to be a routine partial hysterectomy turned into a near‑death experience two weeks later for Galen College of Nursing Sarasota student Adryanna Hesters. She began hemorrhaging at home and developed sepsis. As her husband, Brian Hesters, rushed her to the hospital, she fought to stay conscious, knowing how quickly everything could slip away.

Doctors and nurses at HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital stabilized Hesters and cared for her over the next week. While the experience was traumatic, it also brought clarity. The compassion shown by her nurses helped crystallize what she had long known but never been able to pursue — she wanted to become a nurse.

“I’ve always wanted to be a nurse,” Hesters said. “Life just kept getting in the way.”

A Florida native, Hesters dreamed of a career in healthcare, but her childhood was marked by instability. Her parents separated when she was young, and she and her siblings were sent to boarding school during middle and high school — a time when she needed consistency at home.

At 16 years old, Hesters became pregnant, and her focus shifted to raising a child. Years later, when she felt ready to start college, she became pregnant again and had to step away from school to care for her growing family.

“It’s been a bumpy ride,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot and I’ve come a long way.”

Another source of inspiration came from Kimberly, a traveling nurse married to the man Hesters refers to as her dad, John, who helped raise her from the time she was 7. She encouraged Hesters to return to school, a plan that was later interrupted by a life‑threatening medical emergency.

Hesters’ original surgery went as expected, but two weeks later she knew something was wrong. She began bleeding heavily and drifted in and out of consciousness on the way to the hospital.

“I didn’t want to lose consciousness before I got to the hospital,” Hesters said, “because then that’s never good.”

She spent a week hospitalized, including three days in the ICU, as doctors performed reconstructive surgery. In the middle of fear and uncertainty, one moment stood out.

Unable to shower for several days, Hesters mentioned it jokingly to a nurse how she wanted to get clean.

“She actually went to the doctor and pulled him aside and was able to get it to where she could come in there and bathe me, and let me, you know, do what I needed to do. And then when we got done with all that, she ended up braiding my hair.

“She went above and beyond to make me feel like I’m not just stuck in the hospital. She treated me like a person.”

The nurses’ compassion and care showed Hesters that nursing wasn’t solely about clinical skill or critical thinking knowledge – that a nurse’s heart and advocacy is just as important.

Finding Her Place at Galen

Six months into recovery, Hesters began exploring nursing schools and applied to Galen after learning about it online. She soon enrolled and began completing prerequisite courses.

Hesters said that when she first visited Galen to learn more about the school, she had a good feeling about the place.

“Everyone was welcoming, and they didn’t even know me. I stopped looking at other schools after that,” Hesters said. “It wasn’t a matter of if I’d go to Galen. It was just when.”

After starting in January 2026 with on-campus nursing courses, Hesters also made a big impression, both on the Sarasota campus and during clinical rotations to her peers and faculty members.

“In spite of everything she’s dealing with, she’s constantly encouraging and helping other students,” Galen clinical faculty Michael Coppala, DNP, MSN, RN, CHPN, said. “There’s one student she checks in with multiple times a week to help study and do homework.”

For Coppala, that says everything.

“That’s what I’d want in my nurse,” he said. “I can teach skills and knowledge — but I can’t teach work ethic or a genuine desire to serve. For her, this is more than a job.”

Looking back, Hesters knows her journey is bigger than herself. In addition to her three children, she is also a mother to three children from her husband’s previous relationships. She hopes her story shows others, including her children, that it’s never too late to pursue a dream.

Galen’s expansion into Sarasota has helped provide Hesters and thousands of students across Southwest Florida and the Florida Heartland with access to high-quality nursing education, supporting both individual callings and the growing need for nurses.

“It doesn’t matter what you’ve been through or where you come from,” Hesters said. “You can do whatever you put your mind to.”

From surviving a medical crisis to answering a lifelong calling, Hesters’ journey is a reminder that compassion can change lives — including the person who chooses to give it back.

If you’re considering going back to school to achieve your dream of becoming a nurse, look no further than Galen.

We offer a wide range of pre-licensure nursing programs designed to meet students where they are in life and prepare them for where they want to go. Galen offers a practical nursing/vocational nursing program, an associate degree in nursing, and a Bachelor of Science in nursing. The latter two degrees are eligible to sit for the NCLEX-RN test, which will enable a person to work as a registered nurse.