Tackling medical school is daunting enough, but throw two babies into the mix, and graduating in just five years instead of the usual four, is nothing short of amazing.
Chantal Barry did just that, crossing the stage June 4th to graduate with a medical degree from the University of Alberta, then scooping up her three-year-old son and one-year-old daughter to celebrate with husband Tyler. For her, the grueling path to a degree and to motherhood was paved with numbing exhaustion and many tears, but was always focused on she holds most dear – family. After earning a science degree from the University of Saskatchewan and a master’s degree from the University of British Columbia, she was already 27 – and still childless – when she entered medical school at the U of A in 2005. It was a dilemma for a woman who, coming from a large family herself, eventually wanted four children.
When her son Toryn arrived in May of 2007, she took a year off between her second and third year of school. But when her daughter Ena arrived in November of 2008, things heated up. By taking another year off, she’d lose her son’s spot in daycare, and would also suffer financially by delaying her studies. So, she resolved to push through.
Three scant months after giving birth to her daughter, Barry went back to school and like any intern, did medical rounds twice a day, attended lectures and worked night shifts – all while pumping breast milk every three hours.
Living far from her family in Saskatoon, Barry relied heavily on her husband for help with their children, and drew strength from her spirituality. Barry started journals for each of her children, writing love letters to them, explaining why they didn’t see much of her in their first years. “In reading it, I was able to say to myself that yes, this is the right thing for the family, just push through it, you can do it.” She also drew strength from fellow students in the U of A’s Aboriginal Health Group.
Barry is continuing her career path with a family medicine residency at the University of Calgary and plans to have two more children.
Despite the despair she felt at times over the past few years, she doesn’t regret moving ahead plans for both family and a career, and wouldn’t discourage others from taking the same fast track.