Just Keep Going

Facing lung disease, cancer and COVID-19, George Rowan, ’21, never lost sight of his goal to earn his degree

To know true resilience is to know George Rowan.

Like many Park University students, Rowan has navigated many twists and turns on his long road to a college degree. After high school, he joined the military and took college courses between deployments. After five years of service, he returned to his home in the Manhattan borough of New York in 1987 where he became a New York City police officer.

Working full-time, he decided in 1998 to enroll in Manhattan College. Days away from graduation, a professor challenged the premise of Rowan’s final 25-page paper on police force scheduling, insisting he rewrite it. “I was frustrated, and frankly, I disagreed with him,” Rowan said.

Rowan had every intention of rewriting the paper until “a lot of things started to happen,” he said. “For example, the morning of September 11 in 2001. That happened.”

Bucket Brigade at Ground Zero

As a first responder after the World Trade Center attack, Rowan worked at Ground Zero in what came to be known as the Bucket Brigade. “Even while fresh explosions sometimes forced us to pause our work, we spent every day for weeks, lined up to put whatever we found in buckets — from pieces of hot concrete to body parts — and pass them down the line,” he said. “Growing up in New York, I could not believe what I was experiencing.”

He remembers buying masks at a hardware store. “Of course, I later learned the masks couldn’t stop the dangerous particles we were inhaling every day.”

After 18 years as a detective with the Westchester County (N.Y.) Department of Public Safety, Rowan retired in 2007 and moved to Atlanta where he worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a security manager.

When he first began experiencing breathing problems, Rowan thought it might simply be hay fever. Doctors told him he had an autoimmune disorder, but they didn’t know what caused it. But his breathing difficulties persisted over the years as he continued a frustrating process of seeing doctors until 2014 when he received a formal diagnosis: sarcoidosis, a rare form of interstitial lung disease.

But that didn’t stop Rowan.

In 2017, he moved to Kansas City, Mo., to work as a safety specialist at the Kansas City Veterans Affairs Medical Center. While attending a training, he fainted. He thought it was a complication of sarcoidosis. But this time, the doctors gave him a definitive diagnosis: Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Blizzard of treatments

“My case is textbook,” he said. “By now, studies show that sarcoidosis and cancers can be directly traced to the toxic mix of dust and chemicals that 9/11 first responders inhaled during rescue and recovery efforts.”

He began a blizzard of treatments, including 14 rounds of radiation and chemotherapy over the course of a year.

But that didn’t stop Rowan.

In fact, it reignited his lifelong desire to complete his college degree. “It was simply something I needed to do,” Rowan said. “Everyone in my family — my two sisters and two brothers, even my nieces — have a college degree. I have 30 years of professional experience and wanted to finally earn mine.” In 2019, he enrolled in classes at Park University’s Lenexa (Kan.) Campus.

Yet more roadblocks were ahead.

The effects of chemotherapy landed Rowan back in the hospital. “I had to drop my classes, but the next semester, I enrolled in online classes until I was able to return for the summer semester.”

Then came 2020 and a global pandemic.

“I had beat cancer. I was managing my lung disease. Now here comes COVID-19,” he said. “I knew I was immunocompromised and did everything I could to protect myself.”

When a positive COVID-19 diagnosis landed him back in the hospital in March 2020, Rowan had to drop classes again. “I’ll admit, I thought that was it for me. But I kept fighting,” he said. “When I started feeling better, I went back to work and registered for the summer semester. I was determined.”

Take the next step

In the spring of 2021, Rowan, at 57 years old, graduated from Park University with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration/management. “With my family in Atlanta and New York, I wore my cap and gown and we all celebrated over Zoom.”

What keeps Rowan going? “I think it’s just the way I’m wired. And it’s my faith in God,” he said. “People who know me say I always have a smile. I don’t know any other way to be.”

But he knows well how obstacles in life can make pursuing a college degree feel overwhelming. “Every Park student is facing some sort of challenge. My advice? Just take a step. For example, make the call and register, even if you can only take one class,” Rowan said. “Then take the next step, and the next. Do what you can. Just keep going.”

George Rowan was proud to frame his graduation tassel with his Park University diploma. “When I showed it to a friend, he reminded me that I didn’t just have a diploma. I have a college degree — and no one can ever take that away from me.”