Karolien Verheyen, a teacher and musician from Belgium, was already educated to Master\u2019s-degree level when she began studying with The Open University. After being diagnosed with sarcoidosis, a rare illness affecting her organs, Karolien was inspired to learn more about the human body and its functions.<\/p>\n
Initially signing up for a module in Human Biology, Karolien has now achieved an OU BSc Open Degree<\/a> with a science focus, an OU Master\u2019s degree in Science<\/a>, and has worked on a clinical research project at UZ Leuven in Belgium. Now she\u2019s busy setting up a patient support group for others in her position and hopes to speak at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) International Congress 2022 about sarcoidosis.<\/p>\n When Karolien first enrolled with the OU, she was already highly qualified with a Masters-level photography degree and a teaching qualification from Belgium, as well as a diploma gained while living in Ireland. She says studying with the OU helped to boost her CV with a multitude of helpful new skills.<\/p>\n \u201cI gained more knowledge in biology, physics, chemistry, biochemistry, psychology, and maths as well as many, many new skills. I learnt skills such as reading quickly and understanding, which was excellent as I could quickly grasp the sense of a paper for the first time in my life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cMy degree was made up of modules including Human Biology, Exploring Science and many others such as\u00a0 maths, chemistry, research, and biochemistry. For my Master\u2019s degree I did more biochemistry, psychology, sociology, psychiatry and a research project on sarcoidosis.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to do something for my fellow patients, so I looked at psychological wellbeing in sarcoidosis patients. Too often this aspect of a patient\u2019s health is forgotten by doctors, which is why I would like to talk about it at ERS International Congress 2022.\u201d<\/p>\n After being diagnosed in 2007, Karolien decided that by learning more about the human body, she\u2019d be able to stand firm when talking to doctors and nurses about her little-known condition.<\/p>\n \u201cI was living in rural County Kerry in Ireland when I decided I wanted to study again. I was working full time, looking after my dog and two cats, and was on medication for my sarcoidosis. So the only option was distance learning.<\/p>\n \u201cThankfully the OU offered a very good option for me, and courses of an excellent standard. It was a big investment, but very convenient for my situation, so it was worth the money.\u201d<\/p>\n Karolien \u2013 who also has many music qualifications under her belt \u2013 enjoyed supported distance learning with the OU and says learning on the go became a feature of her life.<\/p>\n \u201cI found distance learning to be very good for me. I managed to keep to a time schedule and found myself studying everywhere \u2013 I always had my books with me! The best thing about it was sitting at home in my pyjamas studying and reading about science!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cI always set aside study time and time to do other things and made sure I studied for two to three hours a day, five days a week. That way I could have weekends off.<\/p>\n \u201cThe materials were very good and very well structured, and the tutors were great too.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite all her well-laid plans, Karolien did face numerous challenges during her studies which made things tricky at times.<\/p>\n \u201cI moved back to Belgium in 2011 when I was still doing my BSc Open Degree. Moving country and moving house often, as well as my personal health problems, made everything a challenge. I got support from a counsellor, therapist and friends and family which helped. Thankfully, the OU was very understanding when things were rough for me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of my BSc I was very tired and worn down, so I struggled to concentrate and stay on track. After the Biochemistry module I felt like I wanted to quit as I\u2019d found it so hard. But I tried again and passed \u2013 then later, when I looked at the material again for my Master\u2019s degree, it all fell into place and was much easier to grasp.<\/p>\n \u201cI managed to maintain my motivation though, as I had so many sources of inspiration. These included certain professors of sarcoidosis, fellow patients, learning new things about the science subjects I was studying, being part of such a large international university, and studying in English.\u201d<\/p>\n After graduating, Karolien went to work at UZ Leuven, a hospital in Belgium, where she helped on a research project on sarcoidosis.<\/p>\n She is also in talks with ERS International Congress 2022 about doing a presentation at the event, on psychological wellbeing and sarcoidosis, and is in the process of setting up a patient support group in Belgium near her home. She said:<\/p>\n \u201cStudying with the OU definitely changed my life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n “I gained much more insight into sarcoidosis, and learnt so much about the human body, the life of the cell and so on. I now feel totally confident when I talk to doctors and nurses about my condition, which is what I was aiming for.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Karolien Verheyen, a teacher and musician from Belgium, was already educated to Master\u2019s-degree level when she began studying with The Open University. After being diagnosed with sarcoidosis, a rare illness affecting her organs, Karolien was inspired to learn more about the human body and its functions. Initially signing up for a module in Human Biology, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20473,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[2146],"class_list":["post-20469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-stories","tag-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u201cI gained many, many new skills\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\u201cDistance learning with the OU was so convenient for me\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\u201cI had so many sources of inspiration\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\u201cNow I can stand my ground when discussing my condition\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n