Former Addict, Now Nursing School Graduate, Pays It Forward

Eric Seitz now wants to be a community nurse and work with the homeless.

At just 24 years old, Eric Seitz was dying. He had been rushed to Harborview Medical Center, suffering from opiate withdrawal, as well as from the flesh-eating bacteria that were rapidly consuming his leg. The bacteria had come from the infected needles Seitz used for his heroin injections.

Six years later, Seitz has just graduated as class president from the University of Washington School of Nursing in Seattle. He's been clean ever since that fateful day, and now, he wants to care for others the way the nurses at Harborview had done for him over half a decade ago. And his leg was able to be saved, too.

Seitz doesn't have a job lined up yet, but he is hopeful he will start receiving offers very soon. He wants to pursue community nursing and work with the homeless.

"Somebody asked me, why do I want to do this?" Seitz said. "It's because I want to show them they have community."

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