Sarah Wielgos
The Sarah Grace Wielgos Memorial Scholarship was created to honor the lasting legacy and bright light of SLU nursing major Sarah Wielgos.
One of five children, Sarah always found a way to balance her sense of joy and fun with her commitment to serving others in her local community and in her planned career as a nurse. She had a particular love for her volunteer work during high school at an area medical clinic that served the poor, and she polished her Spanish language skills to better communicate with the clients there. During her freshman year at SLU, Sarah became involved in SLU Relay for Life, SLU campus ministry, Greek life through Kappa Delta sorority, and Oriflamme, while working at campus jobs as well.
Three weeks into her sophomore year, Sarah was suddenly diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of AML leukemia. Sarah returned home to the Chicago area and immediately began in-patient treatment, enduring many rounds of chemotherapy and radiation to prepare for a bone marrow transplant. During this time, she was blessed with tremendous support from her fellow Billikins, with calls, notes, and videos from SLU friends, professors, and administrators. As she prepared for a bone marrow transplant, Sarah got to know a fellow patient who spoke only Spanish; when Sarah later learned that no bone marrow donor was ever found for this friend, who passed away, Sarah told us that, after treatment, she would make it her life’s mission to promote the Be the Match bone marrow registry to generate donors for underrepresented groups.
After battling her way through transplant, with cells donated from her sister, Mary, Sarah devoted many hours to grueling physical therapy with one, singular goal: to regain her strength and return to her beloved SLU, using her experiences to focus on oncology nursing. Her return to campus was truly a moment of triumph over long odds.
That spring, Sarah helped establish the Be the Match group on campus, personally reaching out to many student organizations to increase the donor rolls for cancer patients needing transplant. She was also a volunteer and guest speaker at SLU Relay for Life. View Sarah’s speech here. Three weeks before finals, however, Sarah received the devastating news that the leukemia was back. Once again, she had to leave SLU and return home for even more aggressive cancer treatment.
Despite the doctors’ best efforts and Sarah’s boundless courage and optimism, Sarah passed away on January 30, 2015. Two buses brought SLU students to her funeral, despite a snowstorm, and her friends later held a candlelight vigil on campus in her memory. The following spring, Kappa Delta and SLU Be the Match hosted a bone marrow donor registry event in Sarah’s honor.
This scholarship is intended to celebrate the impact that Sarah had on her community, and on the SLU campus in many ways. We now know of four bone marrow donor matches that were made directly because of Sarah’s efforts, bringing hope and new life to strangers. Even during her darkest days with cancer, Sarah found a way to shine with positivity and express her deep faith in God’s Mystery. By providing financial support for a SLU nursing student each year, we hope to honor Sarah’s determination to making the world a better place. We hold to the promise that Sarah cherished: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28).