作者:大卫·辛普森 

Cue the costume change. 

In late April and early May, 梅根·弗里克在bet8体育娱乐入口完成了她的物理治疗博士学位, 通过了她的执照考试，并开始在ODU君主物理治疗工作.  

六月底, 她会把诊所的衣服换成晚礼服，去竞争弗吉尼亚小姐的头衔. 

"I’m really looking forward to representing this area,弗里克说, the reigning Miss Hampton-Newport 网站登录. 预选赛将于6月29日在罗阿诺克的伯格伦德中心开始，7月1日举行决赛. 

For Frick, the pageant is serious business. 除了冠军和桂冠，获胜者还将获得2万美元的奖学金. 弗里克将有机会推动她的宠物项目——她去年创建的健康筛查和健康素养倡议. 

It’s not a topic she dreamed up just for the pageant. 健康 literacy is a subject that burns within her. 

It all comes down to what happened to her mother. 

Frick grew up in Albemarle, 北卡罗莱纳, 夏洛特以东. By age 5, she was telling people she wanted to be a doctor. 

But when she was 9, her father, a hair stylist, died.  

It was a financial blow as well as an emotional one. 梅根的母亲是一所私立学校的老师，收入微薄，负担不起医疗保险.  

“And my mom just never remarried,” 弗里克说. “It was really hard because, as someone who should have been enjoying being a kid, I never really got to do that. 这就是我在9岁时就知道的事情:从生活中得到我想要的东西的旅程将是一场艰苦的战斗.”  

她在运动中找到了慰藉——田径、排球、篮球、足球. 然而，在路上，她意识到看到血让她恶心. That meant she could never be a physician or surgeon. 但在12年级的运动训练课上，她学到了物理疗法. 

"Hearing that physical therapists are able to help, 基本上, stretch things that are tight and strengthen things that are weak, 我认为, ‘That actually sounds like something I'd be really good at.’” 

她 enrolled at Campbell University in Buies Creek, 北卡罗莱纳, and majored in kinesiology, pre-physical therapy track. 她 also worked for the school’s football team, assisting the director of operations and director of recruitment. 

在她大二的时候，有一天，她的叔叔和阿姨突然出现在她的宿舍里. It wasn’t a social visit. Frick's mother had died of a massive heart attack. 

“I fell to the floor. 弗里克说:“那是我一生中最糟糕的时刻，因为我妈妈是我最好的朋友。. “All we really had was each other. So I felt like part of me died that day, too. 

“I did not even know she was sick. 她 didn't really know she was sick.” 

As word spread across campus, a little light penetrated her darkness. 坎贝尔的橄榄球教练提供给她全额学费的体育奖学金，条件是她同意继续为球队工作, 弗里克说. Stunned and grateful, she accepted. 

But then she learned her mother had left a heavy debt. 债权人说得很清楚:弗里克有一年的时间还清全部债务，87,000美元. To her, it was an unimaginable sum. 

“I had never even seen $1,000, much less $87,000,” she recalled. 她 had no choice but to put the family house on the market. 

到圣诞节时，房子还没有卖出去，她不得不在寒假期间搬出宿舍. 但她不能呆在北卡罗来纳州的房子里，因为那里没有电，也没有水. Instead, she slept on friends’ couches. 她 hit a low point. 

Then a phone call came from out of the past. It was her favorite high school teacher, Mrs. 埃文斯. Would Frick like to come spend Christmas with her and her family? 

Lori and Chad 埃文斯 had a son, then 9, and a daughter, 14. Frick 分享d a bed with the girl for two weeks. Before Frick returned to school, 埃文斯夫妇提出把他们的餐厅改成卧室，这样当她不上课的时候就可以和他们住在一起. 

The family “has been a huge blessing to me,” 弗里克说. “I started going back there during all of my breaks.” 

2019年3月，埃文斯夫妇更进一步，正式收养了她.  

“Megan just completed our family,” said Lori 埃文斯. “她’s overcome so much. We’re super proud of her.”  

Frick had never heard of adult adoption, “但是他们收养了我，这样我就可以有医疗保险，这样他们就可以正式地说，他们会按照我妈妈希望的方式照顾我.”  

当时机成熟时 为了寻找研究生院，弗里克只拜访并申请了一所学校:ODU. The brother of a friend had gone there. When the 埃文斯es drove her to campus, she knew instantly: “In my head and in my heart, 就是这里.” 

在物理治疗博士(DPT)项目中，她很快找到了自己的重点领域. 

弗里克说:“神经系统疾病是我的最爱，因为我喜欢大脑工作的方式. 患有中风或其他神经系统疾病的人确实是你看到一个人的地位发生最剧烈变化的地方.  

“我认为和这些人一起工作需要非常特别的人, 因为它有时会让人筋疲力尽，你必须有同理心和耐心. 吸引我的另一个原因是，这些人是我认为我最能帮助的人.”  

她对ODU通过EVMS提供的标准化患者计划感到惊叹, 人们在哪里描绘病人来培训医疗保健专业人员, 以及ODU Monarch物理治疗公司的高科技仿生腿, 称为REX, which allow the wearer to experience normal movement patterns, even when the person's muscles can't activate themselves. 

"Megan was a terrific student in the DPT program, 我很高兴她毕业后加入了我们ODU君主物理治疗团队," said Assistant Professor Lisa Koperna, who directs the clinic. 

弗里克说 of her experience in the program: “Honestly, it's just been everything that I could have imagined.” 

After her mother died, 弗里克开始集思广益，想办法帮助人们认识疾病的症状, especially uninsured people who don’t see a doctor regularly. 比如她妈妈.

去年年底，弗里克启动了一个知识库和健康筛查计划，她称之为S.I.M.plify 健康care, using her mother’s initials. 它的设计是, 她说, 帮助提高卫生知识普及水平，并向服务不足的社区提供可获得的资源. 她使用个人社交媒体账户发布健康信息.   

“我一直在创作各种各样的图像，从高血压到糖尿病再到帕金森氏症——我试图涵盖所有领域, 向尽可能多的人展示不同的东西，让他们注意，让他们知道什么时候需要检查.” 

As part of her activities, she is partnering with the Boys & 参加6月10日在汉普顿大道629号举行的社区健康日活动. 在纽波特纽斯. 医疗保健专业人员和当地研究生将随时提供免费筛查.  

S.I.M.当弗里克在维吉尼亚小姐的活动上展示她的平台时，plify医疗保健公司将得到宣传. 她’ll compete on June 29 in lifestyle & 健身和晚礼服比赛，并在台上回答一个问题. For the talent portion on June 30, 她将演唱一首百老汇曲目——她不能透露是哪首——这首歌概括了她的旅程.  

考虑到她想攻读博士学位，那2万美元的奖学金将派上用场.D. Regardless of the outcome, she vows to keep working hard. 

“我现在做的每件事，”她说，“我总是想到妈妈会为我感到多么骄傲."