Extraordinary Healers Vol. 8

IT IS WITH ENTHUSIASM that I nominate Yesenia Nunez, RN, for CURE's 2014 Extraordinary Healer Award for Oncology Nursing.

IT IS IN THE DARKEST of moments of one's life that the light is truly able to shine through.

LONG AFTER THE TREATMENT ENDED, the card lived.

SOME CANCER TREATMENT CENTERS are mere conveyer belts for infusion.

MY HEART POUNDED as I awaited the news. I could hardly believe that my cancer had returned for a fourth time and this time was in my lungs.

NURSES ARE DEFINITELY the unsung heroes of cancer treatment.

HOPE IS HARD TO FIND IN A CANCER WARD, especially when the news is stage 4 metastatic breast cancer to the liver.

MY FAVORITE NURSE, Susanne, is a model in courage and persistence.

I WOULD LIKE TO NOMINATE one of our current nurses, the extraordinary Ann E. Grotz, a registered nurse at Compass Oncology, for this year's award.

MARGARET WHALEN is my kind of nurse!

"WHO CAN TURN THE WORLD ON WITH HER SMILE?" Not Mary Tyler Moore, but instead my oncology nurse, Leslie Bainbridge of Arizona Oncology.

LUCY is an oncology nurse with very special eyes.

IT SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE to me to put into words just how special St. Jude Children's Research Hospital nurse practitioner Martha May is to my family.

MY WIFE passed away on Feb. 2, 2014, from a six-year battle with cancer. It is my honor to nominate one angel in particular who, in the end, became much more than a nurse to my wife.

I work with cancer patients every day at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and I love what I do. But, this is not my story; this is the story of a nurse who stood next to me during a terrible storm in my life.

MY SON RICHIE was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma in February 2013.

SLEEPING SOUNDLY, 5-year-old Malia moved slowly in her bed, teddy and blanket close to her side.

DR. VERNA HENDRICKS-FERGUSON is an absolute inspiration to many others and me.

THERE IS A POEM by the author Linda Ellis called "The Dash," which refers to the dates on a tombstone, from the beginning to the end.

I BELIEVE that cancer has a way of showing up just when other troubles are present or brewing.

I hold tight to the belief that I am a survivor who is living with, not dying from, metastatic breast cancer.

We are all healers of the world no matter who we are. We are here because we can make a difference.

I first met Jeannine Arias, RN, in 1985 when we started working in the ICU at Morris Hospital, a small community hospital in Morris, Illinois.

"Are you here alone? Do you have any family with you?" the resident asked me. My heart began to beat faster. Yes, I was alone. I was always alone. I was the single mother of 7-year-old girl.

We plan our days and weeks and our whole lives in our minds. March 9, 2011, was one of those days for me; just a typical day in the life of Kayleigh Coupe.

I am a 13-year breast cancer survivor who has had the honor of observing and being cared for by the unsung hero and angel on earth, Kathy Ammirata.

I've always heard of breast cancer survivors, but I never imagined I would become one.

Noelle Paul has time to talk on the way home from her job as an oncology surgical nurse at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

After many visits, to many states, to see many aides, nurses, assistants and doctors, Anne Todd, of Southern Indiana Physicians IU Health Oncology, has managed to show us what patient care is all about.

FOR 19 YEARS, Anne Todd served as a secretary in an oncology office where the doctor enjoyed teaching her about the disease.