A nurse’s stage 4 cancer journey at Ascension

For thirty-three years, life for Amanda, an Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital West nurse, was defined by caring for others on the cardiac unit and in the clinic. She had just completed a clean physical, negative genetic testing for breast and colon cancer, and was feeling great a decade after a complete hysterectomy.

When subtle changes began, including minor weight loss, slight hair thinning, and a few fleeting abdominal cramps, Amanda nearly brushed them off. She scheduled a CT scan purely out of caution, even rescheduling it by two weeks because she was convinced everything was fine.

That caution saved her life. When the scan results came back, her doctor called to deliver news that altered everything: a mass had been detected in her abdomen. Further imaging soon confirmed a stage 4 cancer diagnosis. "It was a complete shock, of course, because I felt great," Amanda said.

Navigating the medical system she knew so well, Amanda moved quickly. Within a month, she underwent three scans and had surgery at Ascension Saint Thomas Midtown, where Dr. Jason Barnett, a gynecologic oncologist with Tennessee Oncology, removed the mass and surrounding tissue.

What followed was an immediate, challenging course of chemotherapy starting that September. The treatments took a heavy toll. Amanda lost her hair, suffered profound weakness, lost her sense of taste entirely, and dropped to just 115 pounds. "After being a caregiver for 33 years, being the one who needed to be cared for was a hard adjustment," Amanda said. 

By October, her first follow-up CT scan brought amazing news: all visible signs of cancer were gone. Amanda pushed through her remaining treatments until her final chemo session on December 30th. After that, she moved to a maintenance routine with Avastin immunotherapy infusions every three weeks and regular PET scans to keep the cancer from returning. 

As her body began to heal, a new challenge started. Finishing her main treatments brought a heavy emotional weight. "When you're having chemo, you've just got your head down and you're like, 'Let's do this, let's do this,'" Amanda said. "Then you come out of it and you're like, 'What's just happened to me and my family?' You do lose friends. You do have the survivor's guilt, which was crazy. I didn't think any of this stuff would happen to me, but it did.”

Now preparing to step back into her work at the clinic, Amanda carries both the scars and the profound strength of her experience. “Looking back, I feel immense gratitude for my husband and children, whose love kept me going, and for my manager and coworkers, whose flexibility and support made my return to work possible,” said Amanda. With her family, friends, and team by her side, she is learning to navigate life beyond diagnosis—moving forward one scan, one day, and one milestone at a time. 

Listening to your body and getting checked early can change everything. Schedule an appointment with an Ascension Saint Thomas specialist today or learn more about our Women’s Comprehensive Cancer Center.