It was sometime early in 2021 when Jon Lyon rolled his IV pole down the ICU hallway in an Athens, Georgia, hospital and listened to the sounds of people dying and thought to himself, “If I get out of here, I’ve got to help other people.”
At 50, Lyon began his first semester in Southwestern Community College’s nursing program on Aug. 17, and thanks to the college’s Health Science Scholars Program, Harris Regional Hospital will be paying for his schooling in exchange for Lyon’s commitment to a two-year contract after graduation.
Lyon is ready for this new chapter in his life, and receiving this scholarship has been a huge win for him and his family that just five years ago was preparing for his funeral. Lyon contracted a severe case of COVID-19 in early 2021. The illness progressed rapidly, and by the time he’d made it to the emergency room, he was in active kidney failure.
