Courtesy of Meghan King
By Katlynn Mullins
Meghan King enjoys connecting people.
Whether it’s athletes to oncology patients or herself with children, she finds the two wires that were meant to connect and puts them together.
As a child, and throughout college, she played softball. Though she enjoyed it, there was always something else on her mind — nursing.
At a young age, King lost a close friend to cancer. It made her realize she wanted to pursue a career in pediatric oncology.
“I feel like my purpose is to help those families in one of the toughest times… to bring light to a dark situation,” King said.
In February, the Florida State University softball team adopted Hayden Stone, then 11, through the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, which is a nonprofit that works to pair young patients with brain tumors and other types of cancer with local athletes in an effort to raise awareness, according to their website.
King was the team’s pitcher at the time.
She said she and Hayden have talked at least once a week since she left Tallahassee. They’ve both traveled to see each other, and King is visiting Tallahassee in the coming weeks for Hayden’s first haircut since completing chemotherapy — a milestone among patients.
Nursing would give King the opportunity to connect with children in situations similar to Hayden’s.
When King attended FSU, she volunteered at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital with child life specialist Olivia Vincent. Vincent’s job is to work with patients to “make sure the child is as comfortable as possible during their hospital experience,” King said.
This could mean immersing the patient in virtual reality while getting an IV started or explaining complicated procedures in a way they understand.
From catheter starts to spinal taps, King worked with Vincent, but also watched the nurses.
The experience taught her what she could do in place of a specialist if the hospital didn’t have one and how to deal with grief.
Professionals “respond to every single pediatric death,” King said.
She learned coping mechanisms alongside Vincent, but they also created a new program.
King organized and facilitated patient visits with other FSU athletic teams in her time at the hospital. From this came the idea for an Adopt-A-Patient program, similar to Friends of Jaclyn, but in conjunction with FSU athletics. It’s still in the works, but the idea was born before she left.
Outside the hospital, a second career in softball was thriving.
King spent her freshman year at FSU as a redshirt. She traveled and practiced with the team and played in scrimmages, but never dressed out on game days.
FSU softball coach Lonni Alameda often does this with freshman pitchers so they can “get some experience under their belt,” King said.
The sport led her to Canada, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Peru and Japan with the Puerto Rican national team.
In 2018, the FSU softball team won the national championship. King feels her time playing the sport helped prepare her for a nursing career.
Communication, teamwork and every person sharing a common goal are all traits she acquired by playing softball. The “outlet to connect with people” can be used with patients and other people she works with.
This semester, she’s at USF St. Petersburg, enrolled in the College of Nursing’s inaugural advanced second degree cohort on the St. Petersburg campus.
She graduated from FSU with a bachelor’s in family and child sciences with a minor in psychology.
King chose the St. Petersburg campus because she’s familiar with the area, and her “dream hospital” is Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, which is within walking distance from the school.
She’s been on two tours at the hospital already and has fallen ”in love with everything.” She’s met hospital staff and facilitated patient visits with athletes.
King spoke at a softball tournament hosted by ESPN earlier this year. She recruited a few members from each team and set up patient visits with the hospital.
In class, she’s going to be learning about injections within the coming weeks, and when clinicals come around, she’ll focus on mastering IV starts.
“I’ve seen that it’s one of the hardest things in the pediatric field, and especially with child oncology patients; they’re used to getting poked so much,” King said.
She wants to make it easier on them.
She’s excited for the opportunity to complete her clinicals at All Children’s and feels “it’s a great opportunity to learn from some really incredible nurses.”
“Being able to go to school here… and being able to do my pediatric clinicals there,” King said. “It’s always been a dream of mine.”
