It took a brain hemorrhage, a bucket list chat and a long-delayed promise to herself, but Dawn Zuidgeest-Craft has now graduated from medical school at 72.
Zuidgeest-Craft finished this month with a doctorate in medicine from St. James School of Medicine in Anguilla, making her the school’s oldest-ever graduate. She completed the degree shortly before her 73rd birthday.
Her dream of becoming a doctor began early in life and later grew into a career as a nurse practitioner and pediatric educator. She kept working while marrying and having two children, but put medical school on hold for their sake, at least until her 40s, she thought.
Then she divorced and remarried. She and her husband Carl decided to have their own family, and Zuidgeest-Craft spent the next decade raising two more children. Over time, medical school slipped further away.
That changed when Carl Craft nearly died from a brain hemorrhage. As he recovered, the couple reviewed their bucket list. Carl said he wanted to travel. Dawn said she wanted to go to medical school.
“He thought I was crazy,” she said.
Zuidgeest-Craft used her retirement savings to pay tuition at St. James School of Medicine, where the school waives the requirement for a Medical College Admission Test.
The path was not smooth. She failed a biochemistry exam in her first year. But she kept going with support from Carl and classmates who remembered her from dorm life, movie nights and yoga sessions on the beach.
Her training included clinical rotations in Chicago and West Virginia, as well as time in South Texas, where a medical professional encouraged her to apply for a residency program based on her aptitude.
Zuidgeest-Craft, who has three grandchildren, said her motivation came from wanting to do the work itself.
“When you have to do it for work… you feel like, ‘I got to do this so that I can pay my rent,’” Zuidgeest-Craft told The Washington Post. “I want to do this because I really enjoy this.”
“I feel alive when I work in the medical field.”
She will begin her residency this year at Trinity Health Medical Center in Muskegon, Michigan.
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