South Florida oncology nurses turn own cancer battle into mission to help others

May is Oncology Nursing Month, a time to recognize the compassion, strength, and dedication of nurses caring for cancer patients.

Nurses Sandra Stephens and Rafael Prado both work as oncology nurses at Memorial West Hospital, but not long ago, they were patients on the very same floor.

"I decided that's what I want to do for the rest of my life, that would be the best way to give back what they gave me," Prado said.

Prado was diagnosed with cancer in 2021. After chemotherapy and treatment at Memorial West, he went to nursing school and returned to the hospital, fulfilling a promise to work alongside the team that once cared for him. Years later, the floor supervisor still remembered him.

"The sticky note was there, two years later. With my name and last name, she told me she was there waiting for me, and I applied and she hired me," Prado said.

Stephens received her diagnosis while working as a trauma nurse in 2018. Following chemotherapy, radiation, and a stem cell transplant, she became cancer free.

"I was here on this floor as a patient and with the care that the nurses gave me here, and my doctors, it made me realize that I wanted to be an oncology nurse," said Stephens.

Now, both nurses say their personal experiences help them connect with patients on a deeper level.

"I know what they are going through. I know that when they say they have pain, they are really in pain. When they're feeling anxious, or whatever it is they may be feeling, I know it's true because I've been going through the same things," Stephens said.

Today they're living life to the fullest surrounded by the people they love, and using their journeys to bring comfort, compassion, and hope to those facing cancer.