In 1984, when she was just 12 years old, Ganine Hambley, BSN, of Staffing for All Seasons, was battling non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Part of her care team was Audrey Evans, MD, who was, at the time, CHOP’s chief of Oncology and very well known in the pediatric oncology community. She was not only a co-founder of the Ronald McDonald House but also a pioneer in the clinical study and treatment of neuroblastoma, which led to significantly increased survival rates.
For the young Hambley, though, she was just another doctor helping her fight cancer. “I would see her in the outpatient clinic where I got my chemo treatments,” she recalled. “And I know my parents would have conferences with her.”
Fast forward 35 years and the two met again. Hambley was working in the EDOU (observation unit) and heard an IV pump beeping in one of the rooms. She went in the check on the patient. “I looked at her face and immediately recognized her,” she said. “I said ‘You’re Dr. Evans from CHOP. You were part of the team that saved my life 35 years ago.’” And they both started crying. Hambley called her mom, who also started crying, remembering the doctor who helped save her daughter’s life. “In 1984, my chances of survival were poor,” Hambley said. “People whispered the word cancer.”
Evans, too, was thrilled with the impromptu reunion. “It was an extraordinary event,” she said. “And hers was a lovely story, a success story.”
Hambley’s experience as a patient in CHOP altered her life in another way. “This is why I became a nurse,” she said. She was in the hospital three months … and bored. “One of the nurses asked, ‘do you want to learn how to take blood pressure?’” And that was the start. “I went around the floor taking everyone’s blood pressure.”
She marvels at the coincidence in meeting Evans, who, Hambley said, was discharged “walking around and very spry” after the reunion. “It must have been divine intervention,” she said.
After the tears, Hambley told the doctor who helped save her life “I’m living proof that your work and everything you did saves lives. How many kids have you saved who are now giving back.”