Fulfilling a Lifelong Dream

Almost a decade has passed since that heart-breaking week at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, when Rochette lost her beloved mother, Thérèse, to a heart attack. Somehow, she summoned the courage to produce the defining moment of her career — and as the world held its collective breath she skated to a bronze medal in Vancouver. As it turned out, Rochette never competed again, moving on to a life of show skating and other off-ice pursuits such as skydiving.

In 2015, she entered McGill University, fulfilling a life-long desire to study medicine. She now spends most of her days on hospital wards, clad in a plain white coat. Less than a year from now, she will be addressed as Dr. Rochette — a thought that evoked a burst of laughter when this reality was presented to her.

Now in her final year, Rochette submitted her application for the residency program in November and said “interviews take place in January and February and we get our answer in March.” McGill students are permitted to do an internship at a different university hospital in their graduating year and Rochette is now fulfilling that requirement at a local hospital in Montréal.

While some of her fellow students applied Canada-wide for a residency position, Rochette hopes to stay in Montréal, or at least as close as Ottawa, Toronto or Québec City. “As a resident doctor at a hospital I won’t be able to prescribe anything and will be supervised for the next two to five years. Everything I do will need to be approved by my supervising doctor,” said Rochette, adding that she is scheduled to write her licensing exam in May…

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