From nurse to patient: A journey to healing

Abstract

The nurse manager of an oncology clinic in a major cancer center shares his personal experience as a COVID-19 patient with other health care workers. He has spent two weeks in intensive care and found himself on the brink of death. In a lively description, he underlines the aspect of care that contributed to his cure. This included the respect that his caregivers expressed to his values, his love of his family and his religious beliefs. The communication of the caregivers was always honest and compassionate. He learned that love is the strongest motivation to survive in the course of a life-threatening disease and that healing is possible even in the absence of cure.

Editor’s introduction: Qualitative research in the course of a pandemic

“…Two of the articles report the experience of health professionals who caught the disease themselves. Leo Begazo 9 is a nurse manager in a major USA cancer center. He disregarded the initial symptoms of COVID-19 as if they represented a common viral infection and only when he had developed significant respiratory distress sought admission to the hospital that led to mechanical ventilation, requiring medically-induced coma.…”