Nikki started her higher education journey in 2021 with a full course load, but before the beginning of her first semester she was diagnosed with Central Nervous System Lupus (CNS). CNS can cause confusion and trouble concentrating, sudden unusual movements and behaviors including seizures, inflammation of the spine, and stroke.
With the diagnosis Nikki began to lose vision and experienced several other health complications that created many challenges for the student-parent. Most people in her situation would have called it quits and dropped out of all their classes. Nikki Ramos is not most people.
She was determined to succeed even when life got challenging. When speaking about the struggles she faced during the time of her diagnosis Nikki says, “I wish I could say that I just put on a positive attitude and was like “I can do this” but to be real about it; I shed a lot of tears and was very angry and upset.”
Nikki visited her counselor weekly to help cope with the stresses she was under. It was essential for her to have someone she could talk to and express everything that was happening to her. “It was the one place where I could let my guard down and it was okay to be upset about it, it was okay to struggle with it,” says Ramos.