Every year on May 6, National Nurses Day offers a moment to recognize the compassion, skill, and dedication nurses bring to patients during some of life’s most difficult moments. For many people facing breast cancer, nurses are more than caregivers—they are encouragers, listeners, and steady sources of hope.
For breast cancer survivor Alicia, that skill and compassion didn’t just help her through treatment. It inspired her to become a nurse herself.
Three years ago, in Alicia’s second trimester of pregnancy, what should have been an ordinary prenatal checkup became life-changing. During her exam, a nurse felt something unusual in Alicia’s breast. Further testing followed, and Alicia soon heard the words no one ever expects to hear, especially during pregnancy: You have breast cancer.
Suddenly, Alicia found herself carrying her baby girl and an invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), grade 3, ER/PR+, HER2- breast cancer diagnosis.
“I remember holding my stomach and praying for strength, not just for me, but for the tiny life growing inside me,” Alicia shares.
After her diagnosis and during her second trimester, Alicia underwent a lumpectomy to remove the cancerous tumor. Though the surgery was frightening, Alicia said, “I kept reminding myself that I had to stay strong for both of us.”
Then, in her third trimester, Alicia began chemotherapy once doctors determined it was safe for her baby’s level of development. Sitting in the chemotherapy chair while feeling her daughter kick inside her is something Alicia says she will never forget: “Every kick reminded me to keep going, that she was fighting right alongside me.”
Eventually, her medical team decided to induce labor early so she could safely complete chemotherapy and begin radiation. Alicia said, “Both my baby and I made it through. I named her Journi because that is exactly what it was: a journey of faith, pain, and strength.”
After giving birth to Journi, Alicia returned almost immediately to treatment while also recovering from childbirth and learning to care for a newborn. “My body was tired, my mind was foggy from chemo brain, and I often felt like I was running on empty,” she said. “But I kept pushing through because giving up was never an option.”
Throughout her treatment, the nurses caring for her became a constant source of strength for Alicia.
“The nurses who cared for me became family during that time,” she shares. “They didn’t just treat my cancer, they treated my spirit. They asked about my baby, celebrated small wins, and gave me hope on the days I felt like I couldn’t do it anymore.”
Their compassion left a lasting impact on Alicia that would shape the next chapter of her life.
As Alicia continued healing, she felt a strong calling to help others walking a similar path. She said she just couldn’t shake the feeling that she had been given a new purpose through her experience.
This led to Alicia starting an organization that supports mothers navigating cancer while pregnant or raising young children. “I wanted other women to know they are not alone, that it is possible to keep fighting and still hold on to hope,” she shared.
But even as Alicia poured herself into supporting other mothers facing cancer, she says she felt a calling to go back to the same environment that had once helped her survive. “That is when I decided to become a nurse,” she said.
Balancing nursing school, motherhood, healing from breast cancer, and leading her organization wasn’t easy. “There were nights when I studied with my daughter asleep on my chest, reading the same line over and over because my brain was still foggy from chemo. Some days I questioned if I could really do it, but then I would remember the nurses who carried me through,” she said. “I wanted to be that for someone else.
So she kept going.
Today, Alicia is in an RN program and will graduate in just a few months. She also works as a nurse extern on an oncology unit. Being part of the care team that stands beside cancer patients and helps them through the darkest times in their lives has been deeply meaningful to her.
“This has been incredibly full circle,” she says. “Standing in hospital rooms now as part of the care team, after once being a patient, is something I cannot fully put into words. It reminds me every day why I chose this path.”
Alicia’s first-hand experience as a breast cancer patient allows her to know exactly what patients are feeling, and she knows what it feels like to hear a diagnosis that changes everything.
Alicia shares, “Every time I put on my scrubs, I am reminded of the fight my baby Journi and I went through together. I now stand beside the same bell I once rang, helping others find the strength to reach it, too. We both survived, and now I get to spend my days helping others believe they can, too.”
Now, Alicia is a breast cancer survivor. Her daughter, Journi, is a healthy four-year-old, and the support organization Alicia founded continues to grow through hosting healing retreats and building community for mothers navigating cancer.
Well on her way to becoming a registered nurse, Alicia offers words of encouragement and comfort for other women:
“If I could tell someone newly diagnosed anything, it would be this: You are not your diagnosis. You are still you. You are stronger than you think, and you can make it through what feels impossible. Healing does not always mean going back to who you were before. Sometimes it means becoming who you were meant to be.”
National Breast Cancer Foundation is here for you as you navigate a breast cancer diagnosis. Visit our website to learn about NBCF breast cancer support groups, obtain free educational resources, or find a patient navigator in your area.
Donations are always appreciated, but there are lots of great ways to get involved.
