Serving On A Different Mission Field
By Michael Lavender,
Director of External Relations
When Vickie Hogan was a little girl, she always dreamed of becoming a medical missionary. Although she would later graduate from nursing school and devote her life to patient care, she never lived to achieve her dream of serving God on the foreign mission field. But it was not for lack of trying.
Born in 1952 to Thurlene and Bud Hogan of Old Fort, Vickie Hogan first thought of becoming a foreign missionary after having a stroke in the late 1950’s during her very first year of (elementary) school at what was then Old Fort High School.
Hogan was born with a condition in which the blood vessels in the brain become large and entangled, leading to unexpected hemorrhage or stroke later in life. It is a condition similar to the one which incapacitated Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota in December of last year, requiring months of intensive therapy in a number of areas.
Until she had that first stroke in November, 1959, her parents did not know there was anything wrong with her.
For Vickie, it took an entire year of medical care, therapy and prayer before she was able to return for her second year of public school. It was during that year of absence that she met Ms. Pettaway, a pediatric nurse, who would inspire Vickie to become a nurse.
Born in a devout Christian family, Bud and Thurlene were not at all surprised when a young Vickie popped up and told them of her dream to serve on a foreign mission field. When she graduated from Old Fort High School in 1972, Hogan entered the Davis Hospital School of Nursing in
Statesville, NC.
Three years later, she received her degree and passed licensing exams to become an RN—a registered nurse.
But when she and her parents applied to the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, she was denied a position.
It was too risky, they said, for her to be in a remote area of some foreign country, with limited access to medical care, should she suffer another stroke.
Hogan was heartbroken, but she did not let it get her down.
And where one door had closed, another opened, as she was offered a position in the pediatrics unit at Memorial Mission Hospital, now known as Mission Hospitals. Ironically, Western North Carolina would become Hogan’s mission field.
Despite her newfound optimism, adversity would soon rear its ugly head. A few years later, while trying to clear the airways of a two year old patient in her care, Hogan suffered another stroke which largely paralyzed her left side.
As a result of this handicapping condition, she was unable to seek active employment in nursing, and after another stroke in 1979, it appeared that she would never be able to work in nursing again.
But Vickie, or some would say God, had another idea. Vickie began working part-time and soon applied for a position at Thom’s Rehabilitation Hospital in Asheville, working, of all things, with stroke patients and their families!
It was a perfect fit. As a recovering stroke patient herself, Hogan could relate uniquely to patients as both survivor and caregiver. She inspired them to be like herself, leading a useful and productive life.
Only dogged determination allowed her to succeed, however, as her series of strokes had made it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for her to move about the hospital. With the help of her family, Hogan purchased a three-wheeled scooter so that she could have some mobility on-the-job.
Hogan continued to work at Thom’s until 1996 when her illness became so severe that she had to retire and move back to Old Fort to be with her family.
Two years later, in 1998, she suffered a final, massive stroke on August 19th and passed away one day later, but not without leaving a trail of hope and inspiration in the lives of hundreds of patients with whom she came in contact over the years.
Years before her death, Hogan had made another choice that made it possible for her to give life and health to others, even after she was gone—She became an organ donor, and upon her death, several of her organs were harvested and donated to others in need.
In honor of her love and devotion to nursing, her parents, Bud and Thurlene Hogan, recently gave a substantial donation to the non-profit Foundation Board at McDowell Technical Community College to be used as an endowment for a perpetual nursing scholarship in her honor, to be awarded to future students in the associate degree nursing program at McDowell Tech.
“Vickie loved being a nurse and being able to help others, especially children” Bud said. “We know that this endowment will help other young people obtain a nursing degree, and we believe that would make her very, very happy.”
“We are very excited that Mr. and Mrs. Hogan have chosen to honor Vickie’s legacy with this gift to the college, and I can envision scores of additional lives that will be touched each and every year because of their generosity,” said Dr. Bryan W. Wilson, President of McDowell Technical Community College.
The Foundation will allow the endowment created by the Hogan’s to grow for an unspecified period of time before an initial scholarship is given so that the principal can grow and the scholarship can be given in perpetuity.
“We will also accept gifts from friends of Vickie, Bud and Thurlene Hogan and other concerned citizens who would like to contribute toward the endowed scholarship in Vickie’s name,” said Dr. Wilson. “The larger the total endowment, the greater the size and/or number of scholarships that can be given each year once interest has begun to accumulate on the account.”
To make such a donation, contact Sharon Smith, Vice-Chair of the McDowell Technical Community College
Foundation Board, at 652-0697.
