Lauren Rachel is a prime example of love and compassion and what it means to be a nurse.
I met Lauren at the beginning of treatment for my first recurrence of ovarian cancer in 2017. I was diagnosed at 24 with a recurrence at 29. Lauren is patient, kind, and always makes me laugh. Treatment has always been tough for me. While I did not look forward to treatment, I did look forward to spending the day with Lauren and the other nurses and staff. If laughter could cure cancer, I would be healed for 3 lifetimes.
In May, I found out that the treatment did not quite do what we had hoped, and I found myself back in treatment. With this development, the opening of the new cancer center and having to digest that the nurses I had come to love wouldn't be a part of it, I was completely devastated.
Lauren knew that I had been struggling and reached out to me prior to my first treatment. When I walked into the cancer center, she was waiting to accompany me. I was having a particularly hard morning and I was so relieved to see a familiar face. She was there to comfort me as I sat crying through the majority of treatment.
Even though Lauren is not technically one of my nurses anymore, she still goes beyond her job and takes time out of her personal day to make sure I am taken care of. She is personable, compassionate, and reads the emotional room very well. I'm so appreciative of her and thankful that she was put on the path of my treatment. She has helped to make this terrible thing in my life bearable. There isn't much more that you can ask of a nurse.