Parenting often feels like a journey we take together with our children. For one amazing mom and daughter, this feeling has taken on a whole new meaning, literally.
In May, Cynthia Kudji and her daughter, Jasmine Kudji, both graduated from medical school and became doctors. That is a special and meaningful accomplishment in and of itself. What makes their story remarkable is their backstory and the fact that they both luckily matched at LSU School of Medicine in Louisiana, and will begin working in the same hospital system on July 1. Cynthia will join the Family Medicine program and Jasmine will specialize in General Surgery.
While the mother-daughter pair will continue their medical training in the same locations, they walked very different paths to get there.
Dr. Cynthia Kudji, is originally from Ghana, West Africa and put her dreams of becoming a doctor on hold when she became a mother to Jasmine at the age of 23. For ten years she trained and worked as a Nurse Practitioner before deciding to go back to school for a medical degree at UMHS in St. Kitts and Maine. It was at the same time, that her daughter, Jasmine, began her med school classes at LSU.
Not only did they have to learn the curriculum, they had to also figure out how to support one another from afar.
Jasmine says, “I think it was initially difficult because my mom and I have always been really close so I had to get used to the distance, we had to learn how to FaceTime and Skype each other, so we were Skyping each other every day and whenever I had struggles and she had struggles, we just had to learn how to communicate from a distance. But, I think over time we figured it out.”
The mother daughter bonds that they had only strengthened through their shared experiences. Jasmine explains, “I always tell people we laugh together, we study together, we cry together. I think medical school is one of those experiences that you don’t truly understand until you’re in it. Sometimes people struggle to find someone who relates to their struggles, so for that person to be my mom was extremely helpful.”
This dynamic duo appreciates how lucky they are to have one another and we appreciate how lucky we are to have their story. That’s good medicine.
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