She had cancer as a child. Now, she’s returned to the hospital as a nurse

They were only children when they were diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common childhood cancer.

But the two young South Florida girls, who didn’t know each other, underwent rigorous treatments, endured harsh side effects and gained a heartfelt appreciation for the medical staff that cared for them. That appreciation led to a calling to enter the medical profession and become nurses themselves. Here are their stories:

Kelly Lara at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital

She was only 3 the first time she was diagnosed with leukemia, and Kelly Lara, now 29, remembers the hospital becoming like a second home.

Lara received treatment between the ages of 3 and 6 at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, then called Miami Children’s Hospital. She relapsed at age 16 and was treated there once again until age 18.

Lara’s experience inspired her to go into the medical field and return to work at Nicklaus, where she is now a night shift nurse in the pediatric intensive care unit.

“Unfortunately, as a cancer patient, you see the hospital as your second home, because you’re going there for treatments all the time,” said Lara, of Miami. “I am a two-time cancer survivor, but I was able to overcome it with the strength of my family and God.”

Lara said she remembers fondly the nurses and doctors who treated her. “I had one nurse when I was a little girl when I was age 3 to 6. She was my obsession. I called her Princess Jasmine because she had beautiful hair,” Lara said. “They would all greet me with a hug and so much love and compassion.”

After she relapsed as a teen, Lara said it turned her whole world upside down. “The nurses were just amazing,” she said. “They made me feel like family.”

At 16, Lara had an allergic reaction to chemo that left her with a tanking blood pressure, high fever and hives. Lara remembers the efforts of one nurse in particular to keep her out of the ICU.

“I remember I was in awe” of the nurse’s efforts, she said, “and it kind of pushed me toward the medical field. It put me in that mind-set.”

While she was a teen patient, hospital staff and patients became a second family. She bonded with other seriously ill patients her age who couldn’t have a normal teenage high school experience.

“I never got to go to prom, and the hospital threw a prom for all of the patients that were teenagers that had life-threatening diseases,” she said. “That was amazing to me.”

Lara said the more she forged relationships at the hospital and made friends, the more interested she became in working there.

“I thought, ‘These people are amazing people. I want to be like them,’ ” Lara said. “I loved the compassion that they had.”

At her Nicklaus job interview, she remembers talking about that goal.

“I always saw it as like a home. Even though it was such a negative thing that happened to me, something beautiful came out of it,” she said. “I always wanted to work at Nicklaus Children’s.”

Lara said she has reconnected with nurses, doctors and other medical professionals who treated her when she was a patient. “You could see them grinning from ear to ear, like they’re so proud and happy,” she said.

Michelle Tai, clinical coordinator in the oncology unit at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, treated Lara as a child and now crosses paths with her as a co-worker.

“When I look back on the patients that I have cared for and I see them grow up to be the adults they are, I feel that is my legacy that I am leaving for future generations,” Tai said. “It is great to see Kelly is now making an impact on others. She is the beacon of hope that I use to show other families — that she was in their shoes and is now living a life to give back to others.”

Sarita Moreno at Salah Foundation Children’s Hospital

It was New Year’s Eve 2014 when Sarita Moreno, then 15, was diagnosed with leukemia. She missed her first year of high school because of the intense treatments, including IV infusions and chemotherapy at Salah Foundation Children’s Hospital at Broward Health in Fort Lauderdale.

“That first year of treatment, it was so brutal that I could not do anything else,” said Moreno, now 21 and living in Delray Beach. “I would go to the hospital and come back home. That’s how big my world was.”

Moreno’s treatment started New Year’s Day 2015. “When I first started, I was basically in the hospital for two months. I don’t remember leaving,” she said.

By February 2015, Moreno was in remission, but the rigorous treatments continued. With it came fatigue, nausea and hair loss. She was able to return to school midway through her sophomore year and finish treatment in her junior year.

Along the way, Moreno started to look to the medical field as a career path. Now a senior at Florida Atlantic University studying nursing, she will begin clinicals in the fall.

Moreno said during her treatment as a teen, she began asking a lot of questions about her care.

“I always felt reassured having the doctors and nurses tell me what they were doing and how it worked,” she said. The more they told her, the more interested she got in the process.

“I would ask, ‘Why does it work this way and not this way?’ ” she said. Moreno began doing her own research and eventually took on small care tasks of her own. “I was so intrigued that I realized this is how I want to help people.”

Moreno said she is having so much fun learning about nursing now.

“I’m working at a job where I can make that direct impact that I’ve always wanted to make … and bring a profound sense of empathy because I was there before,” she said. “I try so hard to make sure, that whatever I’m doing, it’s the best treatment I can possibly give because I know what a difference it makes to someone going through something so horrible.”

Melissa Stachiowiak, a licensed social worker in the pediatric hematology unit at Broward Health, said Moreno’s courage throughout her treatment and beyond has been inspiring for her entire medical team. “We are happy to see her success story and how she has moved beyond her cancer diagnosis to now giving back to the medical field as a caregiver herself,” she said.

Moreno said her new career is very rewarding. “People go to a hospital and they show up at their absolute worst. They’re vulnerable and in need of help,” she said. “The least you can do is make it as bearable as possible. It made the difference to me and it inspired me to do what I’m doing now.”

This story was originally published May 26, 2021 at 1:00 PM.