Thomas Paganelli
November 2025
Thomas
Paganelli
,
BSN, RN
Pediatric Infusion • Childrens Cancer Center
Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest
Allentown
,
PA
United States
What Tom does for children like me makes a lot of difference. I am glad other kids like me have people like Tom to care for them.
Tom has a great personality. He is very smart. He is also funny and supportive. Whenever I meet him, he makes me smile and gets me ready for things that are hard. He would know that something is wrong with me just by looking at me and my behavior. Tom knew how scared I was of the port access, so he prepared me mentally and physically to get me ready to do my port.
When I am with him, I am ready, and I know that it will go smoothly. Even when other nurses have been very nice and kind, it is different with Tom. I feel a special bond with him. Like my first time when I got a finger poke, I was really scared, but Tom had talked me through it, and I was perfectly fine afterwards. In spite of this, I used to get scared every time, but Tom never lost patience with me. So that’s why I always asked him to do my port. What is different about how Tom does things is that he always comes back to ask me if I'm okay, even though he knows it went well.
Tom once went beyond his duty to come to get an X-ray with me. Which, for him, might not have been a big thing, but I was really nervous, and I wasn’t feeling the best, even though my mom was there. I also prefer that there be another adult with me, so my mom has one more person to turn to for support. While getting my X-ray, he would make me laugh, and later he told Mom and me all the updates. Whether it is one more heated blanket or something else, it is not just that he does it, but I notice how he puts it over me. As he walks into the room, he makes me smile, and when I am leaving the clinic, he says something nice. No matter how his day is going.
What makes him extraordinary is that Tom is great at his work. When my neutrophil numbers were elevated, Tom was the one who had observed me. He had noticed that my face had been pale, he told the doctor, and after the doctor ordered my blood reports, they found out that Tom was correct. Just from looking at my eyes, skin, and low energy, Tom was able to figure it out. When you get better, why will you miss Tom? I am going to miss all the good times I had with Tom and others at the clinic, but I will not miss the bad times. What Tom does for children like me makes a lot of difference. I am glad other kids like me have people like Tom to care for them.
When I am with him, I am ready, and I know that it will go smoothly. Even when other nurses have been very nice and kind, it is different with Tom. I feel a special bond with him. Like my first time when I got a finger poke, I was really scared, but Tom had talked me through it, and I was perfectly fine afterwards. In spite of this, I used to get scared every time, but Tom never lost patience with me. So that’s why I always asked him to do my port. What is different about how Tom does things is that he always comes back to ask me if I'm okay, even though he knows it went well.
Tom once went beyond his duty to come to get an X-ray with me. Which, for him, might not have been a big thing, but I was really nervous, and I wasn’t feeling the best, even though my mom was there. I also prefer that there be another adult with me, so my mom has one more person to turn to for support. While getting my X-ray, he would make me laugh, and later he told Mom and me all the updates. Whether it is one more heated blanket or something else, it is not just that he does it, but I notice how he puts it over me. As he walks into the room, he makes me smile, and when I am leaving the clinic, he says something nice. No matter how his day is going.
What makes him extraordinary is that Tom is great at his work. When my neutrophil numbers were elevated, Tom was the one who had observed me. He had noticed that my face had been pale, he told the doctor, and after the doctor ordered my blood reports, they found out that Tom was correct. Just from looking at my eyes, skin, and low energy, Tom was able to figure it out. When you get better, why will you miss Tom? I am going to miss all the good times I had with Tom and others at the clinic, but I will not miss the bad times. What Tom does for children like me makes a lot of difference. I am glad other kids like me have people like Tom to care for them.