Their "Survivor Strength" Shows

Cancer knows no age, sex or occupation, and working in health care offers no "get out of jail free" card. Hundreds of health care professionals are diagnosed with cancer each year, and those at The Methodist Hospital are no exception. Here are personalized accounts from four such survivors.

Libby

Libby Coker counsels and tends to the social and emotional needs of others. As a social worker at The Methodist Hospital, she links patients and their families with community resources and helps them cope with the anxiety and uncertainties that come with illness.

She provides much-needed comfort to patients, but years ago she ignored her own feelings of tiredness. That is, until one day when she stopped a doctor friend in the hall and asked him to feel the lumps in her neck.

From the look in his eyes, she knew that something was drastically wrong. He immediately referred her to an oncologist, and at 29, Coker was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a rare cancer of the lymphatic system. She began treatment, including surgery and radiation, and has been cancer free for six years - she is a survivor.

But Coker's story is not as rare as one might expect. Her ordeal - the treatments, emotions and fears - contributed to her decision to work in Methodist's oncology services department. She says her personal experience has given her a special perspective and empathy for cancer patients and their families. Helping them anticipate what is to come makes it easier for them to overcome their fears, and gives them a stronger sense of control, she says.

Joyce

The moment Joyce Mosley discovered the lump in her breast, she knew it was cancer. But what she did not know was that the ensuing treatment and recovery would change how she interacts with cancer patients and their spouses.

Early in her treatment, Mosley observed a huge void in what caregivers did to include spouses in the process. Seeing the distress her husband experienced during her diagnosis and treatment showed her that many husbands feel their lives spinning out of control. Husbands desperately want to help, but may not know how, or are hesitant to say so. That awareness changed how Mosley related to her husband and how she would later support the spouses of cancer patients.

Cancer-free for six years this fall, Mosley, a nurse director at Methodist, now proactively brings spouses into the circle. She says even small gestures make a huge difference.

"Something as simple as making eye contact and focusing attention on the husband when talking with the patient goes a long way," she says.

She gives each husband an assignment, such as buying the right pillow to help his wife sleep more comfortably. It never fails, she says. He does it immediately. Ninety-nine percent of the time, he has completed his task by the next morning. It makes him feel useful, she says. While the patient is in surgery, Mosley seeks out the husband and sits down to talk with him about his role. This relieves some of his anxiety and makes him better equipped to help in the process, she says.

Maria

Maria Davis, a radiation therapy nurse, is a different type of cancer survivor. Although she has not had the disease herself, she endured the pain of losing her 18-year-old daughter, Leia, on Christmas Eve 1996, and saw her husband through stomach, colon, and skin cancers during the past five years.

Her experience has taught her patience.

"As a nurse, it's invaluable for me to understand that patients are in shock and may not be able to focus on everything that's said to them," said Davis. "Patience on my part helps them move forward and understand what's happening around them and to them."

She knows to avoid getting caught up in the medicine because patients do not understand and are unfamiliar with medical terms. She instead chooses to focus on the person behind the disease. Even that can be too much, sometimes. She avoids interaction with teenaged patients because it is too close and too emotionally overwhelming.

"I provide hope," she said. "The reality that my husband survived three different cancers and has remained cancer free for three years is my inspiration."

Roberta

When Roberta Schwartz's gynecologist told her that the lump he found in her breast was not only malignant but also aggressive, she laughed at him.

"I told him I was 27 and this doesn't happen to 27-year-olds with no family history," says Schwartz. "I didn't know then how many younger people it strikes."

Unable to find information on breast cancer in younger women, she took matters into her own hands and co-founded the Young Survival Coalition, an advocacy group for young women with breast cancer.

"There was such a huge void," she says. "I didn't know if I was going to make it to 30 and I couldn't find good information about my situation."

The mission of the group, which has grown from 14 women at the first meeting in 1999 to 1,800 members in 15 communities around the country today, is to draw attention to younger women with the disease and to the gap in research and education for this population.

Free of cancer for almost six years, Schwartz now serves at the executive director for Methodist's cancer services. With responsibility for cancer center's strategic plan, she sees her work as a mission, rather than a job. Based on her experience, she hopes to bring a reassuring sense of continuity and stability to patient care. Programs are now in place, which make patient transition between departments - from surgery to radiology to chemotherapy - easy and fluid.

Schwartz knows firsthand that knowledge and understanding relieve anxiety, and to that end, patient educators, social workers, clinical coordinators and spiritual care staff are now a part of the cancer-care team. Patient education classes and resource books have also been added.

All cancer services must be designed with the patient in mind, she says.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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