After 100 surgeries as a kid, Caleb Wolf is now a nurse!

 "Diagnosed at just two years old with Chiari malformations and pseudotumor cerebri, conditions that caused serious pain, seizures, cognitive issues, and vision problems, Wolf would go on to have more than 100 surgeries and treatments at Children’s Mercy Kansas City hospital in Missouri." 

"Wolf faced enormous challenges throughout his long-term stays as a pediatric patient, but fought, not just for himself, but for other patients like him who were forced to spend their holidays in the hospital. He founded a non-profit that gifted kids with holiday and other special gifts during their hospital stays, and then later, as an adult, he found the ultimate way to give back: He became a nurse himself and now works as a staff RN at the same hospital where he practically grew up." 

"At only the age of 12, Wolf and his friend Reagan started a group called Henson's Heroes, which supplies toys, gifts, holiday meals, and other items of enjoyment, comfort, and need to patients and their families. What started with a competition between friends to see who could get the most toys donated (spoiler: they filled two entire school buses!) quickly became a community tradition." 

"I was like, 'Okay, I get it now,'" Wolf says. "I kind of understand what's going on here. And that gave me the boost to kind of see, kind of the light at the end of the tunnel."

"Today, Henson's Heroes lives on through the hospital's annual Snowflake Shoppe, which allows parents and caregivers of inpatient and dialysis families to "shop" for gifts—donated by the community— without ever needing to leave the hospital. Community members or individuals can still donate online to continue Wolf's efforts with monetary donations that can be directed to the Snowflake Shoppe." 

Read more about Caleb at: https://nurse.org/news/nurse-caleb-wolf-childrens-hospital/

Cheers!

Donna

Erin Murphy, RN survived a heart attack and is raising awareness about SCAD

 

"Hailing from Boston, Massachusetts, Erin Murphy moved to Birmingham in 2017 to finish her bachelor’s degree at UAB.

After four years as an inpatient nurse at UAB, Erin was offered a job as an inpatient charge nurse on the Adult Psychiatric Unit at Shelby Baptist Hospital in Alabaster.

Last June, Erin was making her rounds on the unit when she started getting shooting pains down her left arm and shortness of breath.

She told her manager, who then called rapid response.

Erin was taken to the Emergency Department, and a few hours later, doctors said that her troponin was elevated.

Troponin is an enzyme in the heart that plays a vital role in muscle contraction, so elevated troponin levels indicate damage to the heart muscle.

Cardiologists discovered that Erin had a Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD), which is a condition where a tear occurs in the wall of the coronary artery, causing blood to accumulate between the layers of the artery wall, leading to a heart attack.

Through this scary and uncertain time, Erin praised her doctors at Shelby Baptist for making her feel at ease.

“Dr. Bender took amazing care of me, and her care did not end when I was discharged from the ICU. She helped me get a SCAD specialist, wrote me referrals and she’s just been incredible.”

Now, nearly one year later, Erin is raising awareness for SCAD and heart health.

Did you know that SCAD is the number one cause of heart attack in women under 50?"

Read more about Erin’s advice about protecting your heart.

https://bhamnow.com/2025/03/20/local-nurse-survived-heart-attack-tells-her-story/

Cheers!

Donna

 

Kaila Mabus was inspired to become a nurse because of Castleman Disease, a life-threatening lymphatic disorder

 "Nursing was never a consideration for Mabus prior to Castleman; she didn’t even know anything about it. She had her heart set on becoming a teacher because she loved working with children."   

"That changed after spending months in Lurie, where the nurses got to know her in ways beyond just a medical chart. Mabus remembered Jessica for making her laugh, Brittany for taking her out on the patio to get a little bit of air each day and Anna for being with her on the hematology-oncology floor during Christmas. Their care showed Mabus her true calling." 

“We always hear about cura personalis at Marquette: caring for the whole person. My nurses embodied that. They cared for me physically and mentally; they were true friends to me,” Mabus says. 

"While Mabus is not certain what specialty she wants to pursue, she is favoring the two areas she experienced as a patient: nephrology and oncology. She’d still like to work with children and hopes to show them the same compassion she received from her care team."

 Read more at:

Marquette student inspired to become a nurse through battle with rare disease | Marquette Today

Cheers!

Donna

Nurse survives and inspires others

 “The signs of danger were there,” Tamara recalled. “But I was in denial for a long time.” 

The abuse Tamara faced was sporadic and she convinced herself it wasn’t a domestic violence situation, but as she and her husband faced divorce, his behavior took a deadly turn. On what seemed like an ordinary day, Tamara came home from her shift to an argument that escalated in an unimaginable way. After retreating from the argument, Tamara thought the matter would be settled and was surprised to see her husband emerge in their living room with a gun in his hand, pointed at her. 

“Are you really going to shoot me over a bathroom door?” Tamara remembered asking. 

Before she could react, her husband shot her six times, before taking his own life. Their two teenage children were home, and their daughter, 13 at the time, called the police while her son, 15 at the time, carried out the 911 operator’s instructions. 

“The scene was overwhelming, but I remember my children were both bold and courageous. My son coached me through his tears until paramedics arrived. I still remember being in my scrubs, knowing exactly what was happening to me. I never lost consciousness, so I was looking at the patient experience from a perspective I’d never been in,” Tamara said. “I still get chills thinking about it all.”

 Read more at:

Tamara’s story: Nurse survives and inspires others to heal 

Cheers!

Donna

After overcoming a dark past, nursing student defeats the odds and graduates with the help of her sister

 

"Obtaining a degree of any kind is not an easy or simple task, and for Jonnell Richard, she wouldn’t have crossed the stage on Dec. 15 if her sister had not “saved her life.” 

"Growing up, Diamond Blackwood and Richard dealt with years of physical and emotional abuse that left visible and long-lasting psychological scars that could’ve derailed anyone’s journey, but one sister’s courage and the other’s sacrifice helped Richard defeat the odds." 

"In 2021, the sisters garnered the attention of the creator of the Humans of New York blog. The website and its corresponding social media pages capture images of New Yorkers and couple the photographs with short stories about their lives."

"Brandon Stanton, who manages the website, would approach people on the street and ask them to take their photographs for a feature, but after the spread of COVID-19 in 2020, he asked his over 17 million followers to submit their stories. He said Blackwood and Richard stood out among the 25,000 submissions because of “the devotion and sacrifice that Diamond made to help raise her sister.”

"Stanton mentioned Richard’s desire to attend nursing school, and a few followers stepped forward, offering to mentor her." And they did! 

"Richard graduated from Utica University with a 3.7 GPA."

Read more at:

https://atlantablackstar.com/2024/01/08/nursing-student-defeats-the-odds/

Cheers!

Donna

Claudia I. Martinez, MD has an important message for health care providers with disabilities

"The otoscope and ophthalmoscope are two tools I haven’t been able to use. The residual weakness in my hands from my stroke still lingers and my grip strength is poor. Bc of this I drop everything I carry in my right hand and often those I carry in my left hand as well."

"Being able to see into my patient’s ears, mouth and eyes is very important. In therapy we often tie my hand with an ace bandage wrap so I won’t drop what I’m holding, but needing another person to follow me and literally tie my hand to each tool for me while I’m seeing each patient just isn’t practical. Bc of @eazyhold I’m now able to get this same effect and can use these tools on my own."

"The world isn’t built for individuals with a disability, but thanks to adaptive equipment such as @eazyhold we have a chance to make things around us accessible and not allow our disability to handicap us in every aspect of our lives."

https://www.instagram.com/claudiaimartinez/

https://eazyhold.com?bg_ref=wIZgbMzdyQ

Cheers!

Donna

“I am a nurse: Color me Exceptional!” Introduction of Japanese version

 By Nozomi Kawabata RN, BSN, MSN, BE, living with * * disorder

I translated this picture book in 2024.

Above illustration of the five nurses is a part of the cover of the coloring book.

この記事は米国の著者、読者とのコミュニケーションのために作っています。

In a nutshell, this is a picture book from the US based on real stories, featuring illustration of more than 20 nurses with various disabilities and diseases working in various clinical settings. The English version was published by Amazon in 2019.

This introductory video (5 min 35 sec) for the coloring book was created by Mameko, a nurse living with ASD and YouTuber.
Click below for the Japanese introductory video for the coloring book
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDIkVCIcrLM&t=5s

For more detailed information about the coloring book, please visit the following Japanese website. It includes the names of the disabilities and diseases that appear in the book, a list of occupations and workplaces where nurses are active in the United States, and Japanese explanations of the nurses who served as models.

 まれかん、障害のある看護師たち - 塗り絵の本

Now, regarding the background of translating this picture book, the author, Dr. Donna Carol Maheady, who is a nurse and nurse educator, a founder
of www.exceptionalnurse.com ( a nonprofit organization supporting nurses and nursing students with disabilities in the United States). She has also published three collections of narratives by nurses with disAbilities. I had to resign from my position as a ward nurse at a leprosy sanatorium due to disability-related issues, and a few months later, while attending a vocational rehabilitation center, I came across these books, which were a great source of comfort to me. I have now completed the translation, but due to various circumstances, the Japanese edition has not yet been published. I am determined to explore ways to utilize the manuscript...

Amidst this situation, we decided to publish this coloring book in Japan first. We hope that creativity and imagination for a society where diverse nurses can play an active role will spread in Japan as well. The original title of the coloring book is “I am a nurse: Color me Exceptional!”, which is the name of the supporting NPO. The word “exceptional” is difficult to translate into Japanese, and there are various translations in the dictionary, such as “rare,” “different from normal,” “unusual,” and “extremely excellent.” However, in consultation with the author, we decided to use only “I am a nurse!” as the title for the Japanese version of the coloring book, with the hope that nurses with disabilities and illnesses will soon be accepted as normal.

One of the title of Dr. Maheady's narrative collection, Exceptional Nurse, has been translated as “rare nurse.” However, in the not-too-distant future, I hope that nurses will become as commonplace as air in a nursing world that does not discriminate against people with disabilities (at least in theory... laugh), and that this project will be completed with the achievement of disability employment rates in the nursing field.

For nurses who are also patients, being able to search in their native language and immediately read stories and thoughts shared by their peers is extremely important, both in their work and in their daily lives. While there are excellent Japanese books and articles written by nurses who are also patients, there is a clear need for more information that is easily accessible online at any time.

Next, we would like to introduce the Japanese website titled “Stories of Nurses with Disabilities” (NPO Health and Illness Narratives DIPEx Japan), which features interviews with 20 nursing students and healthcare professionals aged 20 to 70 who have illnesses or disabilities.(Partial release beginning in 2025) Additionally, this website aims not only to provide information and emotional support for patients and those directly affected but also to serve as a resource for specialized education for healthcare professionals, public lectures, and academic research.

“Narratives of Nurses with Disabilities.” (Japanese Sites)

障害ナースの語りwww.dipex-j.org

In translating the coloring book, we have received advice from Ms. Yoko Setoyama, a nurse who is a representative of this JPN database “Narratives of Nurses with Disabilities.”

Thank you very much for reading this far.
Click here to  go to sales page of JPN coloring book on Amazon.co.jp.

Proceeds from the sale of the book will go to www.exceptionalnurse.com to provide scholarships for nursing students with disabilities.

Additionally, this article was inspired by a series of master's thesis submissions by Ms. Natsuko, a nurse with mid-life visual impairment  who works as a consultation support specialist alongside a guide dog. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Ms. Natsuko for providing the inspiration to begin writing this article.

P.S.
Here is Kawabata's self-introduction in English.

#創作大賞2025

【日本語版】https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0DBR9DVRK

Originally published on No+e: https://note.com/marekan2022/n/nadacd31eed1a

With thanks to Nozomi Kawabata RN and so many others for helping us bring this project to life!

Donna