\u201cOnce you stop learning, you start dying,\u201d Albert Einstein once said. For Sharolyn McCoy, that proved to be frighteningly true when a routine scan found an aneurism that had yet to erupt just beneath the bountiful curls that frame her face.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had brain surgery,\u201d the 75 year-old grandmother states. \u201cThey put me on blood thinners and, five days later, filled that area up with coils and a stent.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/02\/Sharolyn_story.jpg\")
With a new lease on life, McCoy found the initiative to pursue something she had always hoped for: a college education. \u201cEveryone in my family was educated except for me,\u201d she recalls. \u201cWhen I recovered, I wanted to finish. So, I sat down with my laptop and submitted my application to 91ÖÆƬ³§. I was accepted in August 2017 \u2013 and I\u2019ve never looked back.\u201d<\/p>\n
91ÖÆƬ³§ had a certain appeal to her. For one, she lives in Ballwin, close to campus. For another, her twin grandchildren introduced McCoy to the university when they brought her and her husband to their freshmen orientation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all really close in my family,\u201d she smiles.\u201cI don\u2019t have any classes with my grandchildren but, when we see each other on campus, we hug. All of their friends are my friends. It\u2019s wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n
The twins, meanwhile, were blown away when their grandmother, who is pursuing a major in English literature and a minor in history, made both the honor\u2019s roll and the dean\u2019s list. McCoy\u2019s family is not alone in cheering her on in her academic pursuits.<\/p>\n
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY.<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n This story was originally published in the Ladue News<\/a>. Photos courtesy of Sarah Conroy.<\/em><\/p>\n