When Montana Brown was a child she had to overcome cancer, not just once, but twice. She was able to do this thanks to the treatment and care that she received at the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and its Cancer Center. She was treated there over 20 years ago. Now, she is able to give back to the hospital by working as a nurse at the very same hospital that saved her life.
When Brown was just 2-years old, she was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma. This cancer affects the connective tissue of the body. Brown underwent chemotherapy at such a young age, but she was well taken care of at the hospital. But the challenges would not stop there. When brown was 15-years old she was diagnosed with cancer again. But even after a decade she was still remembered and well taken care of at the same Children’s hospital. It was this same care that inspired her to grow up and become a pediatric nurse one day.
“The nurses here, as great as they were when I was 2 — from what my mom says — they were extremely loving and caring and compassionate. And, just the love they showed me and my family in our time of need just really helped me,” said Brown, “I really wanted to be that person where when I said, ‘Hey, I totally understand. This is where I was. This is where I am now.’ And that my patients and I would form a bond. I’m not walking through the doors as a patient anymore. I am walking through as a staff member.”