By My Side Through Cancer Treatments

From left: Theresa Wiliams, RN, OCN, and Malinda Blackshaw, RN - PHOTO BY GEOFF L. JOHNSON

From left: Theresa Wiliams, RN, OCN, and Malinda Blackshaw, RN - PHOTO BY GEOFF L. JOHNSON

Let me tell you about my oncology nurse, Theresa Williams.

I received a diagnosis of stage 2b breast cancer in July 2014. My husband and I had recently moved from Atlanta, Georgia, to Bluffton, South Carolina. Emory Hospital was my choice for my surgery. My Emory doctor recommended Mark Taylor, M.D., an oncologist in Savannah, Georgia, to start my chemotherapy.

Nurses can be very difficult patients. I was that patient. Being a nurse, I knew just enough to understand what to worry about. I was hysterical, anxiety ridden and just a total mess. Then along came a research nurse named Theresa Williams. She was smart, calm, caring and very informative. She walked me through six months of chemotherapy and then 30 radiation treatments. She is always with me at my office visits. I have her cellphone number, and she answers my many questions. I wish that she could understand how much she has meant to me throughout my cancer journey.