Stephanie Potts, PA-C, was working in the emergency room when she got the call.
Her 17-year-old daughter’s soccer coach was on the line explaining that Maddie, Potts’ eldest, had unexpectedly gone down on the field during a game. She had been playing great, came out for a drink, and was about to take a free kick when she collapsed. Immediately signing her patients over to the attending physician, Potts drove to South County Hospital to meet the rest of her family as she watched her worst nightmare unfold before her. Unfortunately, Maddie ended up passing away from an acutely ruptured brain aneurysm.
“When we left the hospital, I was given a cardboard box of her belongings and a list of grief counselors to call,” says Potts, who today serves as director of didactic education for Bryant’s Physician Assistant Studies program and coordinates all didactic courses to prepare students for clinicals.
Going on to create the Maddie Potts Foundation with her husband and youngest daughter, the nonprofit has since established The Maddie Potts Memorial Field House at Chariho High School and provided a variety of leadership and sportsmanship scholarships. Most recently, Potts — alongside nine other parents, the majority hailing from Rhode Island — co-wrote a book on parental grief.
“I wanted to provide parents with something more than what we were given the night we lost Maddie,” Potts says, adding that the endeavor was a partnership between The Maddie Potts Foundation and grief coach and editor, Susan Lataille.
Published by Stillwater River Publications, Lives Unfinished: Parents’ Reflections on Child Loss is a compilation of families’ memories of their children and the process following their untimely passing. From waking up and having their tragedy on repeat every day to feeling like nothing made sense, the stories are meant to relate to other parents going through their own struggles. Having written the book’s prologue and first chapter, Potts shares that the eleventh chapter (Maddie’s soccer, lacrosse number, and birthday was 11) is about lessons learned and acts as a resource guide for families.
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“Just because you lose a child, particularly if it's acute, doesn't mean the rest of your life can stop around you. You really have to find any positives possible and focus on those in order to get through those circumstances and be able to share your experiences to help someone else,” Potts says, adding that she is working with Hasbro Children’s Hospital to get books into the hands of parents who need them.
Potts hopes people learn from her experiences — personally and professionally — to help others. Having spent nearly 30 years as an emergency medicine PA, Potts says that her role at Bryant has allowed her to give back in a different way. One of those ways is to emphasize the importance of communication to her Bryant students.
“The communication by the PAs and providers the night Maddie died, and days following, were so valuable to me and my family, and it changed the path of what we could have gone on if we had not had that support and explanation,” Potts says. “It’s important for me to implement the value of that communication with patients, families, and parents.”
She adds that, within Bryant’s didactic courses, students participate in communication sessions.
“We tell our students we will provide them with the tools to ultimately change or save people’s lives in every specialty possible, but we don't always have control over the ultimate outcome of someone’s life. Then, we must focus on doing what's best for the family,” Potts says.
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As a mom of athletes and an athlete herself, Potts lives by the structure of teamwork — a mindset she takes daily to her work at Bryant.
“It's about finding the leaders who can foster strengths and weaknesses in the best way we can,” she says, noting that Maddie, a quiet leader, dedicated her free time to helping others, reached out to new students and teammates, and stood up for others that were less able to stand up for themselves.
The legacy of Maddie’s spirit continues to inspire action. At Bryant, that inspiration is taking shape through the upcoming PA Student Gala, of which the Maddie Potts Foundation is the lead sponsor. Taking place on August 22 in the George E. Bello Center, current PA students will raise money for Children’s Wishes, an organization committed to providing life-enhancing experiences to children facing significant medical challenges.
“I knew we would never find a reason as to why a healthy 17-year-old high school athlete could be taken from us so acutely, but I promised Maddie that we would find a purpose. Our purpose is giving back to others, in as many ways as Maddie would have continued to do herself,” Potts says.
Copies of Lives Unfinished: Parents’ Reflections on Child Loss are available through the Maddie Potts Foundation website and Amazon.