Student Life: Cole Sullivan

by Grace McGrath

Cole Sullivan, a fourth-year nursing student, is no stranger to the care that nurses provide. “I know how amazing it is to have that personal connection and to be able to provide loving care to other people. It’s just a very lifegiving thing, and in a lot of ways inspiring to both receive and to give,” he said.

That’s quite a positive outlook for someone challenged with ulcerative colitis, the disease that has put him in and out of hospitals most of his life. In fact, his experience with chronic disease is what drove him to become a nurse. “I see my life circumstances as a calling to go into nursing,” Cole says. “My struggle with colitis and my faith in God led me to the career.”

Ulcerative colitis has sudden hills and valleys – times when his physical well-being can quickly move up and down, he said. During his third and fourth years in college, he suddenly developed antibodies to his medication and experienced lethargy and an inability to gain weight, making 12-hour shifts difficult. He dealt with challenges such as loss of appetite and weight loss while taking different medications.

During the summer, Cole works as a medic at Camp Carl in Ravenna, Ohio. He distributes medication to campers, documents camper illnesses, hands out water and sunscreen and connects with concerned parents. Each week, there is either a doctor or nurse on the property that Cole and the other nurses shadow. As an aspiring family nurse practitioner, Cole takes inspiration from Alexander Barlekamp, MD, a family physician who mentored him.

Cole also learns on the job as a hospital technician at OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital, working on 3 Silver Cardiovascular Immediate. “Everyone on the floor is willing to learn and willing to teach,” he said, “and everyone has a pretty deep heart for their patients as well.”

Cole values his education both inside and outside the college. He received the Donna Bovina Sanders & Mary Patricia Armstrong Scholarship and has been able to share his gratitude and story with the family who sponsors him. “It’s been an extremely special relationship. I hope that I can repay the gift that they gave in doing the best in my nursing career,” he said.

“I know how amazing it is to have that personal connection and to be able to provide loving care to other people.”
– Cole Sullivan

Cole encourages both patients and fellow students to pursue a nursing career, and says that his experiences in and out of hospitals and his illness are what drive him. He remembers a special moment from one of his longest childhood stays in the hospital: He was alone at night, and when the nursing student taking care of him asked him how he was feeling, he said he felt alone and scared. 

“He encouraged me to pursue nursing, because I would understand how it felt to be alone and to be scared,” Cole said. “That’s allowed me to have inspiration as a nursing student now, trying to make that impact on others while I’m a nursing student. I hope I can carry that into my nursing career.”