Methodist Healthcare System | Keeping Well | Fall 2021

SAHealth.com 7 KEEPINGWELL — FALL 2021 After the storm, the sun will shine again. Rays of light are finally beginning to shine on cancer survivor Kate Hardaway’s path. The 17-year-old has taken recent trials and allowed them to become her inspira- tion and motivation. She has much to celebrate, including beating cancer, graduating high school early and entering Abilene Christian University to pursue her newfound dream of becoming a certified child life special- ist (CLS). Many people have never heard of this job, but it is one Kate and other childhood cancer survivors know well. “My child life specialists were big motivators throughout my treatment,” Kate said. Methodist Children’s Hospital’s CLS team has been with Hardaway during her one- and-a-half-year journey with stage four Hodgkin lymphoma. “They explained Special group of caregivers inspires young cancer survivor to pursue her dream all of my surgeries and they even showed me a port and let me access it before it was put in. They made sure I always had something fun to do during my hospital stays,” she recalled. “I want to be able to help kids going through treatment like me, and I feel like I have a unique perspective.” Kate’s diagnosis put a pause on many life events important to teenagers. Her first hospitalization pre- vented her from attending her high school homecoming dance, prompting her care team to organize a surprise homecom- ing in the hospital. And just when she was about to earn her driver’s license, cancer re-occurred. In May 2020 her cancer came back. “The treatment plan was to do two or three rounds of chemotherapy and then a stem cell transplant,” Kate said. The transplant left her with little energy and extremely sick. The weeks-long hospi- tal stays during a pandemic felt isolating. Her family, friends, nurses, and the child life specialists helped her push through. Their encouragement paired with her grit, allowed her to excel in school from her hospital bed. “In November 2020, I got pneumonia and was admitted back into the hospital,” she said. She focused on her schoolwork and finished her junior year around Thanksgiv- ing. Kate then decided to pursue course- work for her senior year. At the time, Kate planned to graduate high school early and take a gap year before college. However, only a few weeks later, during an impromptu visit to northwest Texas, Hardaway scheduled a tour of Abilene Christian University, one of the few universities in Texas with a child life specialist program. “I loved it so much that I went home and completed my application that night,” she said. It was perfect timing because applications were due four days later. To her parents’ delight, she was accepted. Kate will return to Methodist Children’s Hospital for follow-up care during col- lege. She is looking forward to the day when she can walk through the hospital doors as a child life specialist who moti- vates, educates, and serves as the person children can lean on and confide in during their hospital stays; the same way her child life specialists have cared for her. Top left: Kate and her mother celebrate the end of a lengthy hospital stay after her bone marrow transplant; right: Kate marks 100 days post-transplant. Kate and her sister attend the Alamo Heights ISD graduation ceremony.