Seeing impact of father’s mountain accident helped him decide to be a nurse
Amber Kolesar stood in front of her critical care nursing class at Duquesne University last fall and taught a lesson about diffuse axonal injuries, a type of traumatic brain injury that results when the entire organ shifts inside the skull from a blunt injury.
Many of those who suffer such an injury lose consciousness for hours to months. Most of those with severe trauma never regain consciousness, and those who do are rather impaired.
As the lesson ended, most students closed their laptops and notebooks and left the room. But 25-year-old Kian Fee, originally from Portland, Ore., stayed behind to share a story with his instructor.
Five years before he was born, his father, Bob Fee, an accomplished outdoorsman, led a friend up Mount Hood and intended to ski back down. At the summit, the friend looked down to fasten his ski boots. When he looked up,Mr. Fee was missing.
It was a warm day, and a “wet slide” — a slow avalanche — is the assumed cause. All that’s known is Mr. Fee took a 300-foot fall off Mount Hood and then was in a coma for nearly six weeks after suffering exactly the injury that Ms. Kolesar taught hisson about 30 years later.
“I remember feeling honored that he would share that experience with me,” said Ms. Kolesar. “It also gave me some insight into why someone might want to take on a super challenging second degree nursing program,” of which she is the director, “because he had inspiration and good experiences with nurses.”
Second degree nursing programs have condensed curricula focused solely on nursing classes and clinical experiences because its students already have completed general education and certain science and math requirements with their first degrees.
In Kian’s case, that’s a degree in psychology from the University of Oregon. He changed his goal to nursing as a junior after a friend mentioned his interest in the profession. But no formal coursework could replace the accidental details of his upbringing: His mother was a “fantastic” flight nurse, and his father’s recovery from the Mount Hood incident lasted throughout his childhood. Then, when Kian was a senior in high school, Mr. Fee was out for a run when he was struck by a drunken driver and suffered another head injury.
“We were caregivers from day one,” he said of himself and his older sister, Rosie, who also became a nurse. “From an early age, putting someone else’s emotions and feelings above mine for the most part and learning how to care and empathize. I think that made me pretty easy going, and I’ve always loved caring for people.”
As a kid, he learned to print out directions to his soccer games, knowing his dad would struggle to find the way. Keeping track of meals and meal times fell on Kian and his sister because planning remained difficult for Mr. Fee. And they had to remind themselves “it was injury and not him” when bouts of anger overwhelmed their dad, as his emotional regulation was also compromised by the injuries.
Those experiences prompt Kian to assume nothing when it comes to behaviors in his patients. “I think the biggest thing I learned from this injury and growing up is you never know what someone’s going through. I never try to to judge,” he said. “If you’re on the street or in the hospital and someone’s yelling or mad, it’s so easy to say what a [jerk]. But you have no idea if they had a bad day, what their home life is or if they’re injured.”
Kian followed a romantic interest to Pittsburgh when Duquesne’s campus and second degree nursing program became his top choice. His first few months here were the first few months of the pandemic, which didn’t give him the best impression. But then he started “falling in love with Pittsburgh,” a place that reminds him of Portland with all its rivers and bridges.
Kian graduated from Duquesne’s School of Nursing in December. He aims to pass his nursing board exam in New York and gain experience in an ER or ICU in New York City, because
“What bigger city is there to go to and explore than New York City?” He tries to follow his own path, but he admits that his future might be flight nursing, his mom’s specialty and the one that helped to save his dad.
Although Mr. Fee credits his kids’ mother with their inclination toward nursing, the idea that his two fluky near-tragedies led to their know-how “helps” him accept his ongoing recovery.
“It’s an understatement to say it feels good for me. It’s unbelievable,” he said. “I’m nothing but a proud papa. What they’ve chosen to do and the direction they’ve taken to handle what they’ve handled is just overwhelming, and it’s a fabulous gift.”