{"id":24965,"date":"2019-07-30T13:51:12","date_gmt":"2019-07-30T17:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencescosmaincms.cm.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=24965"},"modified":"2020-02-13T11:55:58","modified_gmt":"2020-02-13T16:55:58","slug":"ucf-grad-battles-cancer-and-loss-while-earning-degree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-grad-battles-cancer-and-loss-while-earning-degree\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Grad Battles Cancer and Loss While Earning Degree"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Erica Catron \u201919MA\u2019s love for radio helped inspire her final paper, which focused on why grieving people choose to listen to certain songs. (Photo by Nick Leyva \u201915)<\/p><\/div>\n

BY NICOLE DUDENHOEFER ’17<\/p>\n

When Erica Catron \u201919MA decided to go back to school three years ago she knew as a non-traditional student she would face more challenges than others. As a married woman in her 40s, raising a young boy and taking care of a household, she figured she\u2019d have a lot to juggle with her interpersonal communication<\/a>\u00a0graduate studies. But what she couldn\u2019t expect in her last six months of studies was her mother dying from breast cancer, later finding out she too had the disease \u2014 at Stage 4 \u2014 and then shortly after losing her husband, a Vietnam veteran and retired Air Force major.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was difficult setting up a memorial for my husband, making sure my son was OK, getting my assignments in on time and figuring out my own health,\u201d Catron says. \u201cThere was a lot going on at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overcoming Obstacles<\/h2>\n

For the past two years, Catron has experienced back pain and fatigue and was preparing to have surgery this year. In 2011, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, and when she became ill at the end of 2017, Catron moved her mother in her home to help care for her. Her mother\u2019s condition became worse in November 2018 and she passed away weeks later. Catron wouldn\u2019t know until five months later during her mother\u2019s final months she too had breast cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a little tough taking care of my mom and going to school, but your parents are there to take care of you when you\u2019re born,\u201d Catron says. \u201cWhy wouldn\u2019t I take care of my mom when she needed to be taken care of?\u201d<\/p>\n

But by the end of this past spring\u2019s semester, Catron managed to meet all of her graduation requirements except completing her thesis, which focused on how military families dealing with loss viewed media coverage of casualties from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. With uncertainty surrounding her health, Admissions Specialist Kelsey Loftus and Professors Sally Hastings and Ann Miller stepped in to help make sure she could meet her goal. They helped Catron switch her degree to the non-thesis option and turn her work into the required applied project instead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI needed a way to graduate that wasn\u2019t the traditional way. I was very fortunate to have professors that understood I needed help and guidance,\u201d Catron says. \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for them I wouldn\u2019t be here. It was their dedication to this university that allowed me to complete my education at a level that I\u2019m satisfied with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dedicated Listener<\/h2>\n

Since she was a teenager, Catron had worked in radio under the name Erica Kay. The Boston native remembers her interest in the field started when she was about 5.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a recorder and I would record myself talking into it and I would listen to myself talking back. I would call into radio shows in Boston when I was 10,\u201d Catron says.<\/p>\n

Throughout her years of working in the Top 40 format, she always loved interacting with listeners and hearing their stories, understanding why they would request certain songs. Eventually her work would bring her to Florida\u2019s panhandle, where she met Roger, who became her husband for eight years.She says he encouraged her to go back to school and pursue a master\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad I went back to school because venturing into interpersonal relationships was what I needed to change careers,\u201d Catron says. \u201cI knew I wanted to work with bereaved military families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Studying Grief<\/h2>\n

This shift in focus came after years of seeing how the death of a childhood friend, Jared Monti, would impact his parents. Monti was an Army soldier who died during a 2006 battle in Afghanistan and posthumously was awarded a Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama years later. Near Memorial Day in 2011, Monti\u2019s dad spoke on NPR about his son\u2019s death and how he would drive his sons\u2019 truck every day to feel connect to him. This broadcast would later inspire a No.1 Billboard hit titled\u00a0I Drive Your Truck\u00a0<\/em>by Lee Brice. With the release of the song, more members of military families spoke out about similar habits motivated by maintaining a connection to their lost loved ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my research I wanted to understand why these people are referred to as life-long grievers because it always seemed like they were sad,\u201d Catron says. \u201cI wanted to figure out what it was in their daily routines that triggered that sadness over and over and over again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Catron suspected part of the grief came from the media\u2019s portrayal of war casualties, so she explored this topic within some of her studies. In her final project, she worked with Hastings to conduct a study on why family members of the deceased choose to listen to certain music, an interest that tied back to her days in radio.<\/p>\n

Looking Ahead<\/h2>\n

When Catron started pursuing her degree in 2016, she envisioned working for an outreach program at Veterans Affairs or at a national cemetery. Now her focus is spending quality time with her 10-year-old son, Turner, and doing everything she can to have more of it, including taking chemotherapy medication.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard when you have Stage 4 cancer and are not given a time frame. You feel like you have to shove life-long lessons into an undetermined amount of time,\u201d Catron says. \u201cI don\u2019t want to overwhelm [my son], but there are certain things I want him to walk away with \u2013\u2013 one of them being empathy. \u2026 I want my son to also see the importance of seeking continuous education, no matter what field you\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although it has been a difficult time for Catron and her son, she emphasizes that this challenging time serves the purpose of building his character as a strong person. She hopes he can offer a sympathetic ear and just be there for people, like she has tried to do throughout her life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY NICOLE DUDENHOEFER ’17 When Erica Catron \u201919MA decided to go back to school three years ago she knew as a non-traditional student she would face more challenges than others. As a married woman in her 40s, raising a young boy and taking care of a household, she figured she\u2019d have a lot to juggle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":24966,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[31,38,37,28,1],"tags":[6141],"class_list":["post-24965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-news","category-breaking-news","category-communication","category-top-news","category-uncategorized","tag-erica-catron"],"yoast_head":"\nUCF Grad Battles Cancer and Loss While Earning Degree - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-grad-battles-cancer-and-loss-while-earning-degree\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UCF Grad Battles Cancer and Loss While Earning Degree - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BY NICOLE DUDENHOEFER ’17 When Erica Catron \u201919MA decided to go back to school three years ago she knew as a non-traditional student she would face more challenges than others. 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