Cancer Patients’ Deaths Affect Nurses Too Cancer has been engrained in our culture
for some time now. The relatively mysterious disease has become the second most common cause of death in the United States, following heart disease. There is no known cure for Cancer and according to the American Cancer Society, half of all men and one-third of all women in the United States will develop Cancer at some point in their lives. Patients who seek treatment for their Cancer have a hard road ahead of them, as well. Mallory Phillips, a radiologic technician studying to become a radiation therapist at Reading Health System, a group of hospitals in the Reading area, says, “Coming in for cancer treatments means being in pain and being very physically ill for months, being exhausted, being broke from medical bills, losing your job and being depressed. If you do not have anyone to help to support you physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially, you will give up and lose the battle. No one can do it alone.” With the odds seemingly stacked against them, it is easy to imagine that Cancer patients are put under tremendous amounts of stress by their situation. However, there is another group of people who are greatly affected by the disease, the nurses who treat Cancer patients. Nurses dealing with Cancer patients have a tremendous amount of pressure put on them because of the nature of their jobs. People depend on them to care for them, deliver the correct amount of medications to them, and even save their lives. However, not everybody can be saved and thousands upon thousands of people die every year of Cancer. More specifically, 354,189 people died in Pennsylvania from Cancer in the last ten years. For the nurses, the deaths of their patients, can be a sad but enlightening experience. Some of these patients have even become their close friends. “I develop amazing relationships with my patients. I never knew what courage was until I met patients who were dying of cancer,” explains Phillips,
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“I do know patients who have died of cancer. I have known patients who died during their treatments. The one thing I can say is that I learned that sometimes things are out of your control and you have to accept it and make the most of it.” Each nurse tends to develop a special bond with patients, because the span of time they care for them can last for a couple of months to even a couple of years. According to most nurses, losing a patient never gets easier. “Losing a patient is probably the hardest part of the job,” says Laura Mackin, a surgical oncology nurse at Fox Chase Cancer Center, “I’ve had several patients pass but the first one was the hardest on me.” Many patients are a part of their nurses’ lives while they are being treated, and when they pass, they can leave a hole where they once were in that nurses’ life. Mackin recounts her experience with a particular patient she had, “We had this one patient who had pancreatic cancer. He was in his 60s and just a great man. His wife spent everyday at his bedside. His kids always visited and made sure he was comfortable. He suffered several complications and eventually his cancer got the best of him. He spent about two months on our floor and in that time most of the nurses came to think of them as friends. It was very hard when he passed and still many of us reflect on his time at Fox Chase.” Despite all of the death that the nurses deal with, they still allow their experiences to affect them positively. “You do have those bad days but you also have those great days when a doctor tells a patient that they are now cancer free.” Mackin said, “I’m always learning about the will of humans and how some can take a bad time in their lives and make it a learning experience. It makes me live my life to the fullest and to live with no regrets.”
words by Harrison Brink Contemplating Death