After beating cancer as a child, Amelia became a nurse to bring hope to sick kids!

Just a toddler, Amelia Ballard was diagnosed with cancer. She would have to spend countless days and nights in the hospital. But that experience would also spark a dream to help others as she had been helped . . .

Standing in the hall of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, tears spilled down Penny Ballard’s cheeks.

She had known something wasn’t right when her 17-monthold daughter spiked a 106 ºf fever. Her panic mounted when the pediatrician sent them to the hospital. Now, as she replayed the diagnosis— acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL)— in her mind, the Brookhaven, Georgia, mom was terrified.

For the next two and a half years, Amelia would have to undergo intensive chemotherapy. She’s just a baby. How will she get through this? Penny wept in her husband Rob’s arms. How will we?

Growing up strong Amelia

was so young, they couldn’t even explain her illness to her. All that they could do was love her through it.

So for every needle stick, Penny held Amelia in her arms.

The nurses gave Amelia stuffed animals to cuddle and sang to comfort and distract her until each procedure was over.

Still, only months after Amelia’s chemotherapy ended, she relapsed. Oncologists placed the preschooler on a new protocol of chemotherapy as well as full-body radiation.

“But her only chance for longterm survival is a stem cell transplant,” doctors explained.

Blessedly, Amelia’s big brother, Robby, was a perfect match. But Amelia, now four, had had enough of the poking and prodding. “Please don’t touch me!” she’d cry. Then her nurses had an idea. “Maybe it’s the baby’s turn?” they’d ask softly, pretending to give Amelia’s doll a shot first as she watched with curiosity — and, by some miracle, calmed down.

For hours, as IVS dripped into Amelia’s veins, her nurses would sit beside her, playing games and rewarding her with stickers, lollipops and balloons for her bravery.

Amelia was brave. And soon, with the transplant a success, doctors were cheering, “Go home and live a wonderful life!” “We can’t thank you enough,” Penny whispered through tears as Amelia hugged her nurses. “When I grow up,” Amelia decided, “I’m going to be a nurse, too!”

And Amelia never wavered from her goal. Not only did she study hard but, during college, she volunteered at Camp Sunshine at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta for kids with cancer.

Hugging her little campers, singing and playing games to make them smile, fueled her passion to become a pediatric nurse.

Spreading hope and healing Nursing

school wasn’t easy. But this is what I’m meant to do, she thought. And when she graduated as an R.N., Amelia got a job in the pediatric oncology unit at Children’s Healthcare and immediately began to pay forward the support she had received.

When one teenager with bone cancer required a stem cell transplant, Amelia understood exactly what she was going through.

“I always wanted to be a nurse, too,” the girl mentioned. “But I don’t know if that could ever happen since I’m sick . . .”

Taking the girl’s hand, Amelia shared her own story. “I did it— and so can you!”

Immediately, the young woman’s eyes brightened. “Thank you,” she smiled.

Another time, Amelia shared her story with the parents of a boy who was fighting the same type of leukemia Amelia had.

“You had ALL, too? Wow. Look at you now!” they marveled. And Amelia could see their hearts lift, knowing their son could indeed survive.

He did! Amanda knows since she keeps in touch with her patients. And today, Amanda —now 25— gives her young patients teddy bears and hugs, just as her nurses had given her. But it’s the hope she provides them and their families that is often the best medicine.

“What I remember most from my illness is the feeling of my mom’s arms around me and the comfort the nurses gave me,” she says. “I want to be the best nurse I can, but I also want to encourage my patients to hold on to their dreams and never give up. We all face challenges and sometimes feel we can’t go on. But you never know what big rewards await!”

— Lisa Iannucci

“When you’re a nurse, you know that every day you will touch a life, or a life yours.” will touch AUTHOR UNKNOWN