Team of Rady Children's Hospital nurses use own cancer battles as way to support patients

A team of Rady Children's Hospital oncology nurses in Orange County is using their own set of personal experiences with cancer to help inspire their patients as they face the toughest battles of their lives. 

One of those patients is Alexander Morgado, who was diagnosed with leukemia last Christmas Eve. At the time, he said all he could feel was anger.

"I was trying to force my parents to leave me alone," Morgado said. "For me to be here by myself, so they could spend Christmas, at least with my sisters."

Morgado, 19, had just been accepted into Hope International University for business when he received his diagnosis. He said that his deeply religious family had big plans for the holidays, and felt that the news ruined everything.

When he checked into Rady Children's Hospital, formerly known as CHOC, he was greeted by the nursing team with a warm smile and welcome. Day by day, he got to know each of them a little better until nurse Lindsay Simao opened up about her own past. 

"I was diagnosed with leukemia ALL in 1991," Simao said. "I just loved all my nurses. They would let me go on rounds with them."

During the three years that she received treatment at the very same hospital where she now works, she said that the nurses became a second family. One of those nurses was Tami Salcedo, who she said was her inspiration to become an oncology nurse. 

Salcedo, who still works at the hospital, keeps a photo of Simao on her badge as her own inspiration. 

"I look at it frequently when things are tough, or just when you kind of need that extra 'oomf' that you can keep going and that there is hope out there," Salcedo said. 

Remarkably, Simao is one of five nurses in the hospital's oncology department who can relate to their patients on a deeper level because of past diagnoses. 

Devon Oddy was diagnosed with B-cell ALL at 6-years-old, Brendan McGeown was diagnosed with the same at 14 and 17, Shaina Neiman was diagnosed with stage 3 neuroblastoma at 6 and Angeliki Pelehrinis was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma at 19. All of them received their treatment at Rady Children's, beat cancer and came full circle by working on the same floor where they help others battle. 

Their stories are showcased on the wall to offer hope to everyone. 

"It's 100% worth it to share our story and be vulnerable with our lives because they're in the most vulnerable time of their lives too," Simao said. 

Morgado said it's all inspiring him to change his aspirations for the future. 

"They make it so easy for me, and I'm just so grateful for them," he said. "I'll go to some community college to finish some credits and transfer to Cal State Fullerton for the nursing program."

He said he hopes to add his own story to the wall one day and continue the cycle of hope that the nurses have given him.