{"id":2012,"date":"2018-07-24T13:33:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-24T13:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/?p=2012"},"modified":"2025-02-06T15:40:39","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T20:40:39","slug":"five-minutes-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/2018\/07\/24\/five-minutes-at-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Minutes at a Time"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kadence-column2012_3eb8fc-76 > .kt-inside-inner-col{padding-right:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-bottom:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-left:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);}.kadence-column2012_3eb8fc-76 > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column2012_3eb8fc-76 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column2012_3eb8fc-76 > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column2012_3eb8fc-76 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column2012_3eb8fc-76 > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column2012_3eb8fc-76 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column2012_3eb8fc-76{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column2012_3eb8fc-76 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 991px){.kadence-column2012_3eb8fc-76 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column2012_3eb8fc-76 dynamic-main-col\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\"><style>.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2012_4e2c89-f5, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2012_4e2c89-f5[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading2012_4e2c89-f5\"]{font-size:1.5rem;line-height:30px;font-weight:500;font-style:italic;font-family:proxima-nova;color:#808080;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2012_4e2c89-f5 mark.kt-highlight, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2012_4e2c89-f5[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading2012_4e2c89-f5\"] mark.kt-highlight{font-style:normal;color:#f76a0c;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2012_4e2c89-f5 img.kb-inline-image, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2012_4e2c89-f5[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading2012_4e2c89-f5\"] img.kb-inline-image{width:150px;vertical-align:baseline;}<\/style>\n<p class=\"kt-adv-heading2012_4e2c89-f5 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\" data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading2012_4e2c89-f5\"><em>Surviving unspeakable loss has made<\/em> <strong>Dr. Angela Herman<\/strong><em>a better teacher, mentor and human being.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image2012_170f8e-05.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .kb-image2012_170f8e-05 .kb-image-is-ratio-size{max-width:500px;width:100%;}.wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image2012_170f8e-05.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image2012_170f8e-05 .kb-image-is-ratio-size{align-self:unset;}.kb-image2012_170f8e-05 figure{max-width:500px;}.kb-image2012_170f8e-05 .image-is-svg, .kb-image2012_170f8e-05 .image-is-svg img{width:100%;}.kb-image2012_170f8e-05 .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image2012_170f8e-05\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.test.wilmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/herman_1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"kb-img\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>When Dr. Angela Herman joined the Wilmington University faculty full-time in 2015, she was asked to transform the former Allied Health program into an innovative and practical offering called Health Sciences. In just three years, the program has grown 200 percent. Much of the recognition goes to Dr. Herman, its chair, though she credits staff and faculty for the significant growth. A nurse by trade, she is passionate about student success and wellness, and is determined to educate the health care industry on the merits of Health Sciences. But amid the success, and for the entire time she has served as a fervent ambassador for Wilmington University, she has carried inside her an enormous burden. She is a beloved mentor, professor and colleague, and teaching is her solace. It is the one thing that has allowed her to thrive despite lingering and indescribable hardships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Health Sciences, a four-year degree or a completion program, explores multiple areas of health care like policy, research and leadership. It was designed to accommodate a broad population of health care workers like respiratory therapists and dental hygienists, as well as generalists who don\u2019t have specific licenses or pathways. When Dr. Herman came on board, her plan was to serve students who loved the health care industry but were neither nurses nor physicians. \u201cOur students are taught to use evidence-based practice in health care and public health,\u201d she says, \u201cwhich is the new thing in health care. All of these things are built into the curriculum.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She needed to educate the public, so she visited high schools to tell students they could either earn an associate degree in Allied Health first or enroll at WilmU right after graduation and earn their four-year degrees. She went to community colleges like Delaware Technical Community College to offer Health Sciences as the next step for graduating students. She developed relationships with many organizational and community leaders, including those at Christiana Care Health System.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been a wonderful thing to be part of,\u201d says Dr. Herman. \u201cI feel there are several directions that are important for me to take: to expand the number of students who have access to the program, since it\u2019s so new and because after meeting with our community partners about what we should change, it became clear that it was very competitive to get into those career pathways and many great students who had an interest in health care got turned away.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The former Allied Health program had a business focus because administrators thought that most allied health professionals wanted a bachelor\u2019s to help them climb the management ladder. \u201cBut in my investigation for our program review,\u201d says Dr. Herman, \u201cI found that there were several reasons people came back to get their bachelor\u2019s.&nbsp; Health care professions are starting to consider a bachelor\u2019s degree as the entry level for practice, similar to changes happening in the nursing field.\u201d &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Others sought careers that required graduate degrees, but first needed to earn bachelor\u2019s degrees to bridge the gap. Physician assistants or occupational therapists, for example, need master\u2019s degrees. Health Sciences was created to support those populations as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The business courses decreased while health care courses increased. \u201cWe also did something different by offering students elective courses to help them build their own focus,\u201d says Dr. Herman. \u201cSo if someone wanted to be a physician assistant, for example, she or he would need more science classes. If they wanted to be a manager, they could add those business courses back in or do a certificate in Human Resources Management.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Health Sciences aligns with the WilmU mission by treating students as individuals and providing the right courses for specific jobs. \u201cSo we encourage them to be thoughtful about what they want to do at the end of this program,\u201d says Dr. Herman. \u201cThey don\u2019t all know what that is, but as part of the early classes, we challenge them to look at our certificate programs and ask them what they could do with those. We also encourage them to consider work-integrated learning experiences, or co-ops, particularly the four-year students. We urge them to get out there and work in the community; to create objectives specific to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image2012_c17db0-83.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .kb-image2012_c17db0-83 .kb-image-is-ratio-size{max-width:500px;width:100%;}.wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image2012_c17db0-83.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image2012_c17db0-83 .kb-image-is-ratio-size{align-self:unset;}.kb-image2012_c17db0-83 figure{max-width:500px;}.kb-image2012_c17db0-83 .image-is-svg, .kb-image2012_c17db0-83 .image-is-svg img{width:100%;}.kb-image2012_c17db0-83 .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image2012_c17db0-83\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.test.wilmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/herman_2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"kb-img\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>There have been outstanding co-op offerings for these students. The American Lung Association, for example, offers WilmU students the chance to work in Wilmington elementary schools, where they assist professionals who teach students with asthma about their symptoms. \u201cThese are kids who may not have those opportunities to have someone to talk to about asthma,\u201d says Dr. Herman. \u201cOur completion degree students who may have been practicing in their professions for years often have only worked in hospital settings, so co-ops like the one with American Lung offer them alternative settings outside of the acute care area, such as schools.\u201d&nbsp; &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. David Caffo, director of Work-Integrated Learning, says that students can either integrate co-ops with core curriculums or build them as electives. \u201cAngie is very innovative in her approach to her program and has embraced the work-integrated learning modality of teaching,\u201d he says. \u201cShe gets that experience is what sets our students apart.&nbsp; Her work with experiential learning gives our students the tools and confidence they need to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She\u2019s focused on the job market, too. A student who has earned a bachelor\u2019s degree and is already working in allied health has a better chance of getting promoted. Other graduates can find work in numerous fields, such as care coordination, particularly as America ages. More nurses are expected to retire, so the need for support services will increase. Employers will also need prevention professionals to assist doctors or nurses with employee assessments. There are opportunities for medical supervisors and research assistants, and the list for potential careers is growing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Herman works with local facilities, including Christiana Care Health Systems\u2019 Care Management program, where she talks about WilmU\u2019s curriculum and informs outside professionals of the training students get. She listens to what the professionals say. \u201cIf there\u2019s something that\u2019s missing in our students\u2019 preparation, let\u2019s add it,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m always glad to hear what will make our students more marketable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>WilmU\u2019s Health Sciences offering is distinctive. Most university programs have specific tracks, but WilmU students can plan individual programs. \u201cHealth Sciences graduates are passionate about their prospects,\u201d says Dr. Herman. \u201cThis gives them an opportunity to make a difference in the health of the population around them. We want to open their eyes as to what that might be.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether it\u2019s in public health, care in a hospital setting, or working in policy, Health Sciences graduates can enact change. Their teachers are helping them understand that they can make a difference.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a message that Dr. Herman is passionate about, and despite her personal struggles, her energy has never wavered. She has carried the weight of the world on her shoulders, and her work has lightened that load.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A native Delawarean, Dr. Herman attended Lake Forest High School and grew up in Harrington, in the shadows of the Delaware State Fair. Her 96-year-old mother, Anne Minner, is a fair board director, so the Delaware tradition is in her blood. She never misses the fair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She earned two nursing degrees (BSN and MS) at the University of Delaware and her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree at Wilmington University. She worked as a staff nurse at the Veteran\u2019s Administration Hospital in Wilmington for two years in the early 1980s, then joined the Delaware Medical Center staff (now Christiana Care) and worked there until 2015, serving in various intensive care areas, first as a manager and then as a member of the Medical Center\u2019s Critical Care per diem pool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNursing makes you very inquisitive,\u201d says Dr. Herman. \u201cMedicine is a mystery. It\u2019s about finding out what\u2019s going on with someone. Nursing is the holistic view of that. Not only do nurses learn about symptoms; we also help patients cope with them.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bulk of her career involved working within the cardiovascular clinical trials program that included research trials in all cardiovascular areas (cardiology, interventional cardiology, radiology, cardiac surgery, electrophysiology and vascular surgery). In 1991, she had started the program at Christiana Care in its cardiovascular research division. Christiana wanted someone with ICU experience, management skills and a master\u2019s degree. Few nurses had graduate degrees then, so Dr. Herman earned the privilege of working with new drug research and investigation and other topics related to cardiac medicine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She started teaching as a WilmU adjunct in 2002. (One of her coworkers was a BSN student and learned of an opening.) By that time, she had two daughters in college and a young son, and was \u201cblown away\u201d by how much she loved teaching research. \u201cIt was so powerful,\u201d she says. \u201cI just love teaching research because it\u2019s a topic students are afraid of. I had such an advantage of working with research so I had lots of stories to help explain it. I loved walking through the halls at Christiana and seeing how many nurses were excited about research because of their classes at WilmU. So many nurses in Delaware come to WilmU.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDr. Herman has a wonderfully unique attitude toward life and the people around her,\u201d says Dr. Jim Wilson, vice president for Academic Affairs.&nbsp; \u201cOur students are fortunate to have the opportunity to engage with such a caring, understanding and compassionate faculty member.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She taught as an adjunct until 2015, when her current position became available. She loved the collegial atmosphere, her colleagues and especially her students. The University provided the quality of life she desired.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wu-blockquote-row is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-ad2f72ca wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote wu-blockquote-simple is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>And that life \u2014 and her job \u2014 would soon see<br>Dr. Herman through her most trying time, literally saving her life.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Herman\u2019s first marriage ended in divorce, but the couple produced three children: Natalie, Caroline and Peter, their youngest. After the girls left for college, Peter remained, their mother-son bond cemented by a traumatic event when Peter was just 2: He fell into a pond on the family\u2019s property in rural Kemblesville, Pennsylvania, and when his mother found him, he was barely breathing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI had to perform CPR on him,\u201d she says, remembering the torment of waiting for the ambulance. The driver couldn\u2019t find the house because two streets had the same name. But the other paramedic recognized the address because his sister had babysat for the girls. Peter was helicoptered to Christiana Hospital, where he survived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Peter left the nest for the University of Delaware. The future entrepreneur and fervent Baltimore Ravens and Miami Heat fan thrived at UD, studying business while becoming a music producer and lacrosse team co-captain. He had even started developing movie scripts. At 20, he moved to an apartment off-campus.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Nov. 7, 2012, his mom took him to Costco to buy \u201chundreds of dollars of food,\u201d she says with a smile, remembering how Peter could eat, how college students never seem to get enough food, and how moms never tire of buying it for them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Herman\u2019s interview at WilmU for the DNP program happened to fall on the same day. \u201cSo I loaded up his car,\u201d she says, \u201cbut I felt so horrible because Peter said, \u2018Hey mom, let\u2019s get something to eat.\u2019 I said I couldn\u2019t. I had to go to the interview, but that we\u2019d do it later.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She recalls watching him drive away in his small green car, eating something out of a grocery bag.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Five days later, Peter was shot and killed.<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image2012_b38d39-3b.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .kb-image2012_b38d39-3b .kb-image-is-ratio-size{max-width:500px;width:100%;}.wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image2012_b38d39-3b.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image2012_b38d39-3b .kb-image-is-ratio-size{align-self:unset;}.kb-image2012_b38d39-3b figure{max-width:500px;}.kb-image2012_b38d39-3b .image-is-svg, .kb-image2012_b38d39-3b .image-is-svg img{width:100%;}.kb-image2012_b38d39-3b .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image2012_b38d39-3b\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.test.wilmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/herman_3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"kb-img\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>When she got the call from Peter\u2019s father alerting her to the shooting, he told her that Peter was helicoptered to Christiana. She thought about the day long ago at the pond, and how Peter survived. \u201cI was so certain he was gone back then, but my friend told me he was OK. I kept thinking it would be the same this time and that Peter would be saved. But he wasn\u2019t.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The date of her DNP interview is seared into her memory. It was the last time she saw her son. Her acceptance letter to the program came amid a flurry of sympathy cards. \u201cI remember opening it up and thinking I just can\u2019t do this. But I thought about it a lot, and getting a doctorate was a long-time dream. I knew the DNP was a good fit.\u201d She also knew that Peter would have wanted her to become a doctor, and that the program might provide an escape from the agony of losing a child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen Peter died, Wilmington University was wonderful to me,\u201d says Dr. Herman. \u201cThey told me not to worry about my classes. But I came back within a week and every single person was so good to me. Every student came up to me and gave me a hug. Peter was so young and so many people came to the service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That support got her through the most difficult moments of her life. Little did she know that more would follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A few months after Peter\u2019s death, in the spring of 2013, Dr. Herman\u2019s then fianc\u00e9, Michael Herman, started to experience severe pain in his ribs. An x-ray revealed nothing and a battery of tests presented only anemia. A hematologist then labeled Michael\u2019s symptoms as a Vitamin B12 deficiency.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But something wasn\u2019t right, at least not to an experienced nurse like his fianc\u00e9e. She conducted her own research and discovered that the symptoms of multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, mirrored Michael\u2019s.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She requested a bone survey (a series of x-rays of every bone in the body). On the way home from the test, they drove by a house in Galena, Maryland, that they had always loved and that had just become available. Michael bought the house the following Tuesday. Two days later, he was, indeed, diagnosed with multiple myeloma. He had 100 lesions in his body and was ordered to start immediate treatment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wu-blockquote-row is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-ad2f72ca wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote wu-blockquote-simple is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>If there was a time for Dr. Herman\u2019s faith to be shattered, this was it. \u201cI thought, \u2018How can this be?\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cI lost my son and now I\u2019m going to lose my husband-to-be?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>They didn\u2019t waste time. \u201cI said we\u2019re going to get married and we\u2019re going to live in this house we just bought,\u201d she says. \u201cWe moved in in July and got married in September.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Throughout all this, she had been working on her doctorate. \u201cBut I realized I couldn\u2019t be doing research for a Discussion Board when I should be researching how to keep my husband alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She dropped out of WilmU\u2019s first DNP cohort. By January, Michael had gone to Arkansas for treatments with the renowned Dr. Bart Barlogie (originally from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center) at a center built by Walmart founder Sam Walton, who also had multiple myeloma. Michael stayed there for nine months, and family members took turns while he endured two stem cell transplants. Dr. Barlogie moved to Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City in 2015, and the couple now travels there for treatments.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Time went on, albeit slowly and painfully. Cohort One had long finished and by that point, Cohort Six would soon commence. Enter Dr. Aaron Sebach, chair of the Doctor of Nursing Practice program. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt took me about a year to convince Angela to return to the DNP program,\u201d says Dr. Sebach. \u201cI kept bringing it up in conversation and sending degree plans. I knew that earning a terminal degree in nursing was a personal and professional goal of hers and I was determined to assist her in reaching that goal. With her extensive background as a clinical nurse specialist and researcher, coupled with her perseverance, I was confident that she would be successful. She seamlessly integrated into our sixth cohort and served as a role model for other students. Her doctoral project combined her expertise as a clinician, researcher and educator to implement a clinical practice change at a small community-based hospital in Maryland.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She kept her eyes on the prize, he adds. \u201cShe never let the death of her son or the health of her husband hinder her success. Angela graduated at the top of her class and proudly delivered a speech at the doctoral hooding ceremony highlighting her doctoral journey. I don\u2019t think that there was a dry eye in the room.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In that speech, she revealed that the date of her DNP interview was also the last day she saw Peter. When she walked across the stage to don her tam, her emotions covered the gamut, from sadness and regret to joy and triumph. \u201cPeter would have been proud,\u201d she says. \u201cHe was with me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Herman\u2019s two daughters, Natalie and Caroline, are both successful business professionals. But Peter\u2019s death left a hole in their lives. \u201cIt never goes away,\u201d says Dr. Herman. \u201cEvery birthday, every holiday: You feel that loss of what your life should have been and never will be. And you just miss him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of Peter\u2019s friends gave her a recording of a song his friends had written for him and played at his service. They had also recorded his laugh and tagged it to the end of the song. \u201cSo I have his laughter,\u201d says Dr. Herman. \u201cI can\u2019t listen to the song much, but I can always hear his laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Hermans give a scholarship every year in Peter\u2019s name to an Appoquinimink High School lacrosse player who embodies Peter\u2019s spirit and leadership abilities. Peter was part of the first graduating class at Appoquinimink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Herman takes nothing for granted. \u201cYou realize you don\u2019t know what\u2019s coming at you,\u201d she says. \u201cObviously I would have thought Peter\u2019s death was enough. I would not have thought I would have a husband who had to battle cancer. Cancer has defined our life.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every day counts, she says. \u201cWhen someone else loses a child around Peter\u2019s age, part of me wants to help them, but I don\u2019t know how. The reality is that it hurts. It sounds clich\u00e9, but you have to take one minute at a time. If I can just get through the next five minutes, maybe I can get through the <em>next<\/em> five minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tragedies have changed her. \u201cI always had a strong faith, but it does harden you a bit,\u201d she says. \u201cI think I\u2019m a good person and sometimes I ask why these two events happened to me. But at the end of the day, I think about the wonderful life I had, and have, and I realize there are no guarantees. There are people who deal with so many other things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Being present for her daughters and meeting work obligations keeps her going. \u201cThose things help you,&#8221; she says. \u201cThose girls are there for me and this job saved me. The people at WilmU care and they let me be with my husband when I need to be.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Doing what she loves has aided the healing process. Michael, who is in near-complete remission, often reminds his wife about the good times with Peter. And earning her DNP made the pain somewhat less acute. \u201cYou&#8217;re moving yourself forward and hopefully showing other people that it\u2019s a mechanism to help,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nurses like Dr. Herman tend to be naturally compassionate. \u201cBut until you lose a child or deal with a loved one with cancer,\u201d she says, \u201cyou don\u2019t understand how truly painful these things are. I think that makes me a more understanding teacher, particularly with students who have challenges. I can help them look beyond them so they\u2019ll be successful. I can better help them meet their educational goals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, some days are worse than others. She never worried about petty things anyway and after the past few years, she doesn\u2019t sweat the small stuff. \u201cI don\u2019t think there will ever be the pain I felt by losing Peter,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen you put that as a baseline, and having Michael be so sick, it\u2019s hard to get upset about anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She does worry that people find her cold or unemotional. \u201cI wonder if they say, \u2018Why don\u2019t you cry?\u2019, and I think it\u2019s partly because if I start crying, I won\u2019t stop. You have to put those barriers up as a professional. You can\u2019t let it have power over you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For now, she and Michael enjoy every day in their dream home. And it just happens that Diane Bansbach, chair of WilmU\u2019s Math department in the College of Arts &amp; Sciences, lives a few houses down the road.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe share fun times,\u201d says Bansbach.&nbsp; \u201cWe watched the Eagles huge Super Bowl win together.&nbsp;And we share a great loss: she lost her third child to violence and I lost my third child to a genetic defect.&nbsp;She is so very kind and would do anything for anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s no accounting for the bad things that good people endure. \u201cIt\u2019s really about how you&#8217;re able to respond to them,\u201d says Dr. Herman. \u201cYou have to continue to help others and do what\u2019s important for them.\u201d WU<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>For more information about the Health <\/em><em>Sciences program, visit http:\/\/www.wilmu.edu\/health\/health-sciences.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u2013 Cover Story by Maria Hess<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Surviving unspeakable loss has made Dr. Angela Hermana better teacher, mentor and human being.&nbsp; When Dr. Angela Herman joined the Wilmington University faculty full-time in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2009,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[163,135],"tags":[651],"class_list":["post-2012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifewilmu","category-magazine","tag-magazine-summer-2018"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":163,"label":"LIFE@WILMU"},{"value":135,"label":"MAGAZINE"}],"post_tag":[{"value":651,"label":"Magazine Summer 2018"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/herman_1-735x480.jpg",735,480,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Eric Mumford","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/author\/eric\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":163,"name":"LIFE@WILMU","slug":"lifewilmu","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":720,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":90,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":163,"category_count":90,"category_description":"","cat_name":"LIFE@WILMU","category_nicename":"lifewilmu","category_parent":0},{"term_id":135,"name":"MAGAZINE","slug":"magazine","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":692,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":431,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":135,"category_count":431,"category_description":"","cat_name":"MAGAZINE","category_nicename":"magazine","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":651,"name":"Magazine Summer 2018","slug":"magazine-summer-2018","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1208,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":15,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2012"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14697,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012\/revisions\/14697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}