39-year-old, Calley Burnett has proved that a mother’s love conquers all after she switched from her years of running the family business to pursue a career in nursing when her son was diagnosed with an heart condition.
Calley, from Indiana, was inspired to change careers after her second child, Spencer was diagnosed with congenital heart defects and spent nearly two months in a neonatal intensive care unit.
She told GMA that she previously worked for a family business. However, the positive experience she had with the nurses and doctors while her son was admitted inspired her in 2019 to enroll in a nursing school.
“Spencer was born with congenital heart defects and that led my way into the nursing program after just being bedside for several weeks with Spencer at Riley,” she said.
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Calley stated even though it was a very tough and scary time for her, she and her family had a team of caring health providers who were dedicated to helping Spencer through his many treatments and hurdles.
She stated that her son had to be treated for multiple heart defects, as a part of his aorta was narrower than usual, he had an unclosed hole in his aorta and he also had a hole in the wall separating the two ventricles of his heart.
Calley said Spencer had a closed-heart surgery before he was discharged in 2016. A year later, the boy also had an open-heart surgery in 2017, which enabled him to treat the various heart issues he was born with.
Calley said she had to take prerequisite classes, for about two years to complete nursing school. She stated that she had to balance it with working and it was challenging but the sacrifices and the hard work all paid off.
Upon graduation, she first took a job at another hospital but she knew she wanted to return to Riley Hospital where her son was treated, because the staff meant so much to her and Spencer.
“I knew immediately that I wanted to be with the babies. There’s just something about being at Riley and being with kids and tiny little infants that I just knew that’s where my heart was going to be as soon as I hit nursing school,” she said.
Calley is currently a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit nurse at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, the same hospital where her son was sent for further care days after his birth.
“It’s a phenomenal feeling to be able to help the parents because I feel like I’ve been there. I can tell these moms and dads, ‘Hey, I’ve been where you are and I understand.’ And I just love it,” she said.
Calley encourages anyone thinking about changing their career or considering becoming a nurse to go for it and make the change. “If that is your passion. I would 100% follow it. It’s worth it. The journey is worth it. It’s tough. But what you get back from it is a hundred times better,” she said.
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