Wednesday's Warriors: The Oncology Nurses
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ARLINGTON (CBSDFW.COM) - In this week's Wednesday's Warriors, meet the oncology nurses on the fourth floor at Texas Health Arlington.
Love.
That's one word Charlotte Lemieux uses to describe oncology nurses Clair Stout and Wendy Bodiford.
"They just always made us feel special and loved," said Lemieux's daughter, Stephanie Smith.
And that's the way they made Charlotte's husband Roger feel as he battled his Leukemia on the fourth floor at Texas Health. Stout and Smith say the key to doing their jobs is family. The ones they meet at work and the ones at home.
"Day's I'm not so kept together I go home, and my husband is there for me to listen, and not to judge," said Stout.
Every path to oncology is different. For Stout, her calling came at a heavy price.
"My dad passed when I was 20 of renal cell carcinoma, and getting to experience the nursing care he had at UTSW, made me want to bring that kind of nurturing to other families who are struggling with the same thing," said Stout.
"We couldn't do that job if it wasn't for our patients and our families," said Bodiford. "And the opportunity to participate with them, and have good days and bad days with them."
Like the day Roger Lemieux passed away.
"I relive Wendy, when they came to take Roger to the ICU she said, 'Wendy, we've got this.' And she said 'he's not going anywhere without me.'"
And he didn't.
Even on the bad days it's family that gets them through.
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