From Cancer Nurse to Cancer Patient

George Martinez was used to helping oncology patients working as a nurse at the Lee Health Cancer Institute, but his whole world changed when he was diagnosed with cancer in 2022. “It was really weird, because I used to be the nurse going in, seeing the patients, and then I'm the patient…It was very surreal. It was very out-of-body almost.”
What started as a sore throat ended up being lymphoma, an aggressive, fast-growing cancer. Fortunately, he was able to find it early in stage one. Treatment consisted of 3 cycles of chemotherapy. “I had a week straight of treatment, and then two weeks off, and then again, and another week of treatment, two weeks off, and another week of treatment,” said Martinez.
While he admits chemo was difficult, the oncology nursing team and Nurse Joyce Hlywka made all the difference. “I didn't like needles to begin with, and never had been an inpatient before, and she moved mountains for me,” said Martinez.
“I wanted to help him because if it was me in his shoes, I would want someone to do the same to me,” said Hkywka. “That's why I'm in this career. I chose this profession for that reason, and that's what it's all about.”
Now that he’s in remission, he’s back to working as an oncology nurse. “I'm able to relate to the patient because I've had a similar shock in finding out that I'm diagnosed with cancer and then also just being able to be compassionate and understand.” You can learn more by going to leehealth.org/cancer-care.
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Lee Health in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of health care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For more than 100 years, we’ve been providing our community with personalized preventative health services and primary care to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries.
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