Stacey Parrish

            Let me start this letter by saying this ~ In July, 2009 I walked into the Batte Cancer Center for the first time.  It was here that I came to meet the staff of the Radiation Oncology Department for the first time.  In that department was a nurse named Stacey Parrish.  The kind of nurse you always hope your mom or dad will have at the end of their life.

            My Mother-in-Law is not only battling Alzheimer’s dementia, but bilateral lung cancer also.  She recently completed a five day course of the Cyber Knife Radiation Therapy in your oncology radiology department. It was here that we had the privilege of meeting the person that would turn out to be “Our Cancer Nurse” or so that’s what we called her at home when we spoke of her to others.

            So how can I describe her so that you can see her in your minds and understand how wonderful it is to get a true, genuine, good, humble, caring, person to take care of someone you love that has cancer.  She spoke slowly and softly and made sure we understood what she had said before moving on to other things.  She never spoke in a silly voice using belittling words.  She made sure she treated her patient and all of us with the up most respect even on the phone.  I even referred to her once in an e-mail to my family like this ~ “I will call Stacey, she is a very dynamic nurse.  She will find out and get it taken care of, that’s for sure”.  And yes, within minutes my phone rang and she had.  No matter when we called or when we stopped her in the hall, she always treated us as if we were the most important patient she had.  As I am sure she has done for all of her patients. 

We want her to know how important what she does is and how much she is needed. And while even battling cancer, even death for some, how many lives were made a little bit better and a few more smiles were smiled because she was there.