PORT ARTHUR, Texas — The moment a Winnie mother was honored for her hard work was bittersweet, as she reminisced on the loss of her husband who died in their home months before.
Casey Flitcraft was one of 30 Lamar State College-Port Arthur licensed vocational nursing students who were honored in a ceremony for those who completed the LVN course.
When the event was finished, Flitcraft was called back to centerstage at the Monroe Performing Arts Center. It was there that Flitcraft was given the DAISY award.
The DAISY award is a recognition for the top nursing students, instructors, and practitioners from across the country, according to a Lamar State College-Port Arthur release.
Flitcraft cried as she held the small statuette signifying her recognition. The moment was bittersweet.
While she was happy to receive the award, Flitcraft was saddened by the fact that someone she loved was not there. That someone was her husband, Greg, who died six months before the ceremony was held.
He died in their Winnie home.
The day before her husband died, Flitcraft said he was complaining that his was back was hurting. The following morning she found him lying facedown and motionless on the bathroom floor.
Greg had been there for hours and had suffered a heart attack. Flitcraft said she immediately knew that there was no chance in bringing him back.
“I was a medic in the Army Reserves,” Flitcraft said. “I work as an emergency room tech, but I was there in the bathroom with him, and I was in shock.”
One of the couple’s adult children heard his mother call for help. Flitcraft remembers her son saying, “Momma, I need you to calm down. We need to get you out of the house.”
Flitcraft sat on her front porch thinking, "Oh my God, these babies just lost their daddy." The couple's youngest child is 12 years old.
At her husband’s funeral, Flitcraft saw Lamar State College-Port Arthur nursing instructors and fellow students in the pews.
“They cancelled classes the day of the funeral,” Flitcraft said. “There were two pews of people from the school there for me. Without my instructors and my classmates, I couldn’t have done it. That program absolutely saved my sanity.
The support of her instructors and friends helped her carry on.
“How could you carry on? How could I have not,” Flitcraft said. “The instructors made sure I persevered and that I was as OK as I could be in that situation. I’m from northern Louisiana so I don’t have my momma down here. Those instructors were my mothers.”
The Monday following her husband’s funeral, Flitcraft went back to school.
“We had an exam on Tuesday,” she said. “I passed that.”
Flitcraft believed she had no other option but to keep moving forward and pushing on.
“Greg was the main income for us as a family,” Flitcraft said. “He worked overtime, doing everything he could to keep us afloat while I was in school. Financially, I had no option but to keep moving forward in school.”
After working for Baptist Hospital’s emergency room as a technician, Flitcraft will now join the LVN crew at the same facility.
“They’re sticking with me after all this,” Flitcraft said.
Flitcraft is planning to join LSCPA’s Upward Mobility (LVN to RN) program. She is also planning to become a nurse practitioner, specializing in psychiatric care.
“You can’t be scared,” she said. “Fear is the main thing that holds us back, the fear of failure. Life is not perfect. The road we walk is full of potholes. You have to keep going. You can’t quit."
Flitcraft believes her husband is always with her. She sees him in her memories and the faces of their children.
