COL Ege is serving in the US Army as a veterinarian and is currently in her 21st year of continuous active duty service. She passionately supports the Department of Defense through biomedical research.
2018-2019 has been a tough period for COL Ege and her family. She was living overseas in Thailand with her entire family but separated to move back to the States. As her husband and one teenage child moved to Maryland in the first stage of the move to set up the purchase of a home and car, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Remaining in Thailand with a young adult and one teenager still in school, she made the decision to complete her diagnostic testing in Thailand and then leave the country the day after her daughter finished 8th grade.
Upon arrival to the US, and the reuniting of her family, she began treatment at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. For the remainder of 2018, she was in treatment, which appears to be successful.
2019 has been COL Ege’s comeback year. October 2019 is an important month as she will be running in the Army Ten Miler, a goal she had in 2018 prior to her cancer diagnosis. She has spent the year going through medication changes, dealing with side effects of the cancer treatment, side effects of multiple medications, starting a new position, and the difficulty of regaining her physical strength and mobility. October 2019 is also the month she is being promoted to Colonel.
COL Ege was nominated by her loan originator, Jason Fox, who worked with the Eges while she was in Thailand and her husband was in Maryland.
“Just through my interaction with COL Ege, it is apparent she is a very strong woman. She always has a positive attitude, a smile on her face, and she fights hard.”
Throughout this time, COL Ege has been resilient. Any one of the challenges she has faced could be enough to knock someone down, but she has kept her head up, sought out assistance through her friends, coworkers, and medical personnel to help her through the difficult times.
As a research veterinarian and now as a breast cancer survivor, COL Ege continuously calls attention to the need for ethical biomedical research in animal disease models. She is proud to serve in the military with a mission to improve Soldier brain health and to find treatments and cures of infectious diseases affecting the Warfighter.
COL Ege chose Platoon 22 to receive this month’s donation to support all who are facing difficulties. Suicide is not the solution.
