{"id":1522,"date":"2025-12-16T09:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T09:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/?p=1522"},"modified":"2025-12-16T20:25:40","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T20:25:40","slug":"finding-strength-vulnerability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/2025\/12\/16\/finding-strength-vulnerability\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding strength in vulnerability"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Michaela<\/p>\n

Michaela Marshall has learned a lot of things over the past six years at Marshall University.<\/p>\n

After earning dual undergraduate degrees in Health Sciences and Psychology, she knows her share about the functions of the human body and mind. And as a graduate student receiving her master\u2019s degree this month in Mental Health Counseling, she\u2019s beyond ready to launch a career that equips others with mental health tools to cope with challenges.<\/p>\n

One thing she\u2019s learned from experience rather than a syllabus, however, is the life-changing importance of being real, even when things aren\u2019t perfect.<\/p>\n

In fact, especially when things aren\u2019t perfect.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t see anyone introducing themselves and saying, \u2018Here is everything I\u2019ve ever done wrong.\u2019 We are in a society where success gets the glory, and I\u2019m the same way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But being real about her imperfections and setbacks has made all the difference in her college experience \u2014 even though, for Michaela, being real has been hard. Her childhood was filled with abuse. Her college experience has been impacted by an off-and-on battle with cancer. She\u2019s the kind of person who doesn\u2019t have strong family ties for support but never wanted pity or special treatment. She just wanted to earn her way on her own.<\/p>\n

However, her years at Marshall University have taught her that that\u2019s not exactly how folks roll amongst the Herd. They go through things together.<\/p>\n

\"Michaela<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat made Marshall attractive to me was what it brought out of me. I had faculty that looked at me and said, \u2018Hey, what makes you special? How can we cultivate that? What does success even mean to you?\u2019\u201d Michaela said. \u201cI\u2019ve had a kind of mentorship here that is so invaluable.\u201d<\/p>\n

It started with Student Support Services as an incoming freshman, and it hasn\u2019t stopped. Bonnie Bailey, director of Marshall\u2019s Student Support Services TRIO Program, and staff have an open-door policy that makes all the difference, Michaela said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy freshman year, it was do or die. It was: \u2018You have to get these scholarships or you can\u2019t go to school.\u2019 And Bonnie was like, \u2018I will show you the on ramp, but you have to go.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

So she went.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve worked in so many offices at Marshall,\u201d Michaela said. \u201cI\u2019ve been a FAM (Friend at Marshall) peer mentor, I\u2019ve worked in the Orientation office, I\u2019ve worked with all the WOW (Week of Welcome) stuff, I\u2019ve worked as a GA (with Marcie Simms, vice president of Student Affairs), I\u2019ve worked Parents and Family Weekend, now I work in the Counseling Center.\u201d<\/p>\n

She found a support system.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have spent holidays with Bonnie and her family, professors and peers. I started going to church when I was going to college. My support system has to be Marshall because that is where I learned how to be myself,\u201d Michaela said. \u201cI really flourished for the first time when I was given the space to grow here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Michaela<\/p>\n

She made new friends on the path to success, but what she learned along the way was something that caused her to change her major. She had a painful, eye-opening conversation with a friend who had all the outward characteristics of happiness and incredible success, but was considering suicide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat taught me that sometimes, the brain is a valuable organ that we under-appreciate,\u201d she said. \u201cI went that next week and said, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m switching to Psychology.\u2019 \u2026 I come from a very sad story. Everybody goes to help those kids. I want to help the kid who has everything that\u2019s afraid to get help.\u201d<\/p>\n

She did an internship in the Counseling Center and loved working with college students.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I just help the people who are going to be the next Brad? Can I just invest in the freshmen who are actually crashing out about finals right now?\u201d<\/p>\n

In the midst of exploring the new field, Michaela was experiencing another trauma of her own. She was diagnosed with a form of cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, in the summer of 2023. She was immediately placed on a list for a liver transplant and began a 12-week chemotherapy treatment plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid the first (chemo treatment), not too bad. Did the second one, still not too bad. Did the third one, and I was driving back and thinking, \u2018Man, I\u2019m feeling really tired.\u2019 I pulled over and slept for 12 hours at the Teays Valley Target,\u201d she recalled. \u201cThat\u2019s when I was like, \u2018Shoot. I cannot drive myself anymore, but who am I going to ask? I don\u2019t have anybody.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The answer came when she met up for coffee with fellow Marshall student Mallory Hamm, who Michaela discovered had a childhood best friend with leukemia. Mallory immediately started asking insightful questions and has since become a lifeline. The person who will be there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t ask her to get involved \u2014 she just did,\u201d Michaela said.<\/p>\n

Mallory started driving her to appointments, became her power of attorney, and stayed with Michaela at the Pittsburgh hospital where she had a liver transplant.<\/p>\n

By that point, Michaela\u2019s illness had started showing.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople started to know, and I was really insecure. When you don\u2019t have a support system, you always have put your best foot forward,\u201d she said. \u201cI did not want anyone to know. I prided myself on not letting anyone know. I wanted to do great on my own, not get the cancer pity card.\u201d<\/p>\n

After her surgery, she had some months with no evidence of disease and was thought to be cancer-free, but a recurrence was discovered in the spring of 2025. It was hepatocellular carcinoma, but this time in her lungs. Because of the spread, it was immediately considered Stage 4 cancer, for which Michaela is still undergoing treatment.<\/p>\n

How do you get through school while doing chemo?<\/p>\n

\u201cThankfully for me, there\u2019s a thing called compassion, and a lot of people have it,\u201d she said, adding that on the first day of class, she sent an email to professors explaining her situation so that projects and deadlines could be adjusted to accommodate her treatments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had accommodations from professors, who were awesome and incredible, and my peers were kind and caring,\u201d she said. \u201cMy internship was beyond accommodating and let me go in my own lane and learn how to be a counselor and supported me and encouraged me and mourned the losses and cared when I had a hard day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Michaela<\/p>\n

As a graduate assistant in Student Affairs, she was under the mentorship of Marcie Simms, who not only helped her grow professionally, but brought her groceries. And then there was her mentorship from Marshall President Brad D. Smith, whom she befriended on the day of his investiture, which happened to be her birthday, and has been a constant source of encouragement to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had to pick somebody that has made me feel like cancer doesn\u2019t matter, it\u2019s him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just taken what it means to say, \u2018I\u2019m a daughter of Marshall\u2019 to the max. If you want deep community at Marshall, it doesn\u2019t start with your best foot forward. It starts with, \u2018I don\u2019t know.\u2019 It starts with being vulnerable. If you are willing to crack the armor that we wear all the time, you\u2019re going to thrive here.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michaela Marshall has learned a lot of things over the past six years at Marshall University. After earning dual undergraduate degrees in Health Sciences and Psychology, she knows her share about the functions of the human body and mind. And as a graduate student receiving her master\u2019s degree this month in Mental Health Counseling, she\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-moments"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/198"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1522"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1535,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522\/revisions\/1535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}