{"id":93050,"date":"2018-12-13T09:48:03","date_gmt":"2018-12-13T14:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=93050"},"modified":"2022-04-04T11:22:50","modified_gmt":"2022-04-04T15:22:50","slug":"hospital-bed-ucf-graduation-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/hospital-bed-ucf-graduation-ceremony\/","title":{"rendered":"From Hospital Bed to UCF Graduation Ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sonia Cox didn\u2019t feel right. There was pressure in her chest.<\/p>\n

She asked her husband, Robert, to pull the car over in a parking lot. She vomited due to the pain.<\/p>\n

Robert wasted no time and drove his wife of 26 years straight to Viera Hospital in Brevard County. Doctors told her she was having a heart attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just started crying,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m only 48. How can this be?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found out it was congenital,\u201d Robert adds. \u201cShe\u2019s lucky it didn\u2019t happen sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fast forward 369 days, and Sonia will suit up in her cap and gown Dec. 15 as one of UCF\u2019s 5,700 fall semester graduates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just thinking about this the other day: A year ago, I was in a hospital, and now a year later I\u2019m getting my degree. I can\u2019t believe it,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m excited, happy and emotional because it\u2019s been a long road.\u201d<\/p>\n