Humans of AACC Presents President Dr. Dawn Lindsay, President of Anne Arundel Community College:

“We lost my sister in 1975. She died at 21. She was my older sister. My only sister and my only sibling. She died of a pulmonary embolism. A lung clot at 21. It changed my whole family. It was unexpected and unprepared for…it made me recognize that it is important to tell people that you care about that you care about them when they are around to tell them because you never know when they aren’t going to be there. So that’s my lesson.”

“Did it bring your family closer together?”

“I don’t know if it brought us closer together initially because everybody was going through their own process of mourning and pain and we didn’t do it together as a family. So we all went through our own processes in very different directions. For a while it actually distanced my family, but then as we started to heal and work together, I think we actually became incredibly close and we learned to really appreciate each other as a family.”

“What did the healing process feel like? Getting together after being distant for so long?”

“Wonderful. In my world I don’t believe we are in life to be alone. I believe people are kind of pack animals that need to be with other people and it’s easier to share in sorrow and enjoy when you are around the people that you love.”