As a pre-med student with a passion for music and men’s basketball, Lydia Ngonyi wanted to assist others with a cheerful bedside manner as well as medical aid.
She planned to travel to Kenya, her family’s homeland, to help AIDS victims.
And last fall, she was part of a group that sang for cancer patients at the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit of Georgetown University Hospital.
Ngonyi did not know at the time that within just weeks, she would be a patient in that same cancer ward, as she began a months-long struggle with lymphoma that would eventually claim her life.
That battle ended July 9, when Ngonyi, 21, died at Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pa. Her funeral was held July 16 at Lehman United Methodist Church in Lehman, Pa., her hometown.
Maura Gregory, Ngonyi’s dean at the School of Nursing and Health Studies, said that Ngonyi was diagnosed with lymphoma in late October, less than two months after the beginning of her junior year.
She received chemotherapy treatments at several hospitals and underwent a bone marrow transplant, but was eventually forced to drop out of Georgetown in the spring due to her declining health.
“Lydia was truly a wonderful person and I don’t think anyone could find a bad quality about her,” Nicole Girard (NHS ’06), who lived with Ngonyi for two years, said. “She loved to have fun. She loved to make others laugh.”
An avid music lover and Human Sciences major who dreamed of one day becoming a physician, Ngonyi constantly thought of how she could help others, friends and classmates said.
“She was seriously one of the nicest people I’ve ever met,” Kah Yee Teh (SFS ’06), Ngonyi’s roommate last fall, said. “She worked really really hard. She studied really hard. But she was always ready to have fun.”
Ngonyi was visited by numerous professors and university chaplains during her stay at Georgetown University Hospital, Teh said. The university gave Ngonyi a room in Village C when she had to take a leave of absence from Georgetown in the fall but still needed to travel to the hospital for chemotherapy treatments.
Ngonyi’s funeral included eulogies from family and friends and a PowerPoint presentation of pictures of her life, including her time at Georgetown, Teh said. Students and officials from Georgetown, including Gregory, also attended the funeral.
Kathryn Chiu (SFS ’06), Ngonyi’s freshman- and sophomore-year roommate, said that she was struck by Ngonyi’s care and concern for others. During her chemotherapy treatments, Ngonyi had no trouble smiling, laughing and talking with friends about classes and other everyday concerns, she said.
“She knew she was ill but she still wanted to help other people,” Chiu said. “She was . really considerate of others.”
Ngonyi was an avid fan of Georgetown’s men’s basketball team, and she was excited that she could be more involved when she got a job as a basketball athletic trainer on campus, Chiu said. Ngonyi usually worked 30 to 40 hours a week, Chiu added, at places like the Barnes and Noble Booksellers in Georgetown.
“She was really driven,” Chiu said. “She was always talking about medical school and what she wanted to do.” Friends also singled out Ngonyi’s love of music and ability to captivate others with her singing. “Her voice was amazing,” Girard said. “Her smile could light up Giants Stadium.”
Ngonyi would sometimes come back to her room in tears after seeing patients at the hospital cry while she sang, her friend Juan Rendon (NHS ’06) said.
Phone calls to Ngonyi’s home were not returned, and her family members could not be reached for comment.
University officials said that no e-mail announcement was made to the Georgetown community, as is typically the case when a student dies, because Ngonyi was not a currently enrolled student. NHS administrators notified their students of Ngonyi’s death in an e-mail last week.
Despite Ngonyi’s long struggle with her illness, friends said her death has left many them shaken, even dismayed, that someone they knew so well and cared for so much could finally be gone.
“You see the statistics, and you know someone is going to get cancer,” Chiu said. “But you don’t think it’s going to be your freshman-year roommate.”
NHS officials said they are planning a memorial service for Ngonyi to be held this fall soon after classes begin.
