Nursing student Lexie Hackman, B.S.N. ’25, was celebrating her 21st birthday with friends from the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies when she got a shocking phone call. A recent skin biopsy had come back positive for melanoma, and she would need surgery. “I was obviously distraught,” she said. “I had no idea what was happening. I was just on autopilot.”
But Hackman’s loved ones rallied around her, giving her the courage she’d need to push through the biggest challenge of her young life. Dr. Regine Reaves, assistant director of undergraduate nursing programs, also gave Hackman hope. “She said, ‘We will work with you. You will get through this,’” said Hackman.
A year later, Hackman is ready to graduate. Her health care journey has transformed both her perspective and her sense of purpose. “I was pushing my doctors, telling them, please, I need to come back. I need to go back to school,” she said. Less than a month after surgery, she took the HESI, an hours-long comprehensive practice test for the registered nurse licensing exam and did exceedingly well on all parts of it. “In a normal semester, I don’t think I could have done that,” she said. “I was so driven to finish, and I knew I had a lot of people supporting me I didn’t want to let down.”
Hackman didn't let her health get in the way of pursuing her dreams. That summer, she went on to an externship with Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, a position she’d interviewed for the day before her surgery. A few months later, after undergoing a second surgery, she flew to Madrid during winter break for a Global Health Transcultural Nursing study abroad experience.
Looking back, Hackman acknowledges the past four years have not been easy. “Nursing school is not for the weak. You have to have a work ethic like no other,” she said. “But it’s worth it. I’m very excited to be a nurse.”
Hackman got her first glimpse of what a nursing career might look like while still in high school, when she came to the University of Miami for what she calls an “unforgettable” Pre-Med Simulation Workshop at the school’s S.H.A.R.E. Simulation Hospital Advancing Research & Education®. “That program made it clear there were so many opportunities for nursing, so many different avenues,” she said. “I realized I could literally become anything, and that gave me a good sense of freedom.”
Being a hospital patient only reinforced Hackman’s enthusiasm for her chosen profession. “I love my doctors—they’re the reason I’m OK,” she said, “but those nurses stayed with me the entire night. They stood beside me, and got me strong enough to go home.”
That experience transformed Hackman in a way no class could have. During her senior preceptorship in the cardiac ICU at Holy Cross Hospital, for example, she remembers how good it felt to be able to comfort the family of a patient while his ventilator tube was being removed. “I was holding the daughter’s hand and she was squeezing me so hard,” she recalled. “Nurses really are your medical and emotional support, and that’s something I learned firsthand.”
In the end, Hackman is most grateful for the love of family, friends, and faculty. “My friends and family were such an integral part of my recovery. They were my biggest cheerleaders,” she said. “Without an amazing support system, I wouldn’t have been able to be where I am now, and I am so thankful to be able to do that for others in the future."
