I'm just a nurse; one of hundreds of thousands who has felt the heartbreak of cancer. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in her late 60's. When she had recovered from mastectomy and radiation: my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Once he recovered from surgery and radiation; mother was diagnosed with lung cancer which eventually caused her death. About a year after she passed away, my father was diagnosed with inoperable cancer. He had 4 good years because of the excellent, caring professionals at Pheobe Putney Cancer Center in Albany Georgia. But cancer, as it does in my family, eventually returned and took his life.
I am a nurse, yet I could do nothing to prevent the ravages of cancer in my family. As with some of my patients, all I could do was make them as comfortable as possible. But as a nurse, one who has witnessed the plight of the poor firsthand: I decided to try and make a difference. Cancer awareness is my passion. I debunk myths and incorrect information regularly in my church as I participate in its health ministry, and at health fairs that I work on my own time. I tell people about programs that they can qualify for to get free mammograms and refer them to clinics and health departments all the time. I volunteer myself to go to apppointments with those who are afraid to know what might be lurking in their own bodies. I make myself available to those facing surgery to be there for them, and to help them in any way that I can...and they know that I mean it.
I offer my story to say although I am "just a nurse", there are many things that I can do to be of service....and I'm thankful.
Atlanta, GA