A Pediatric Emergency Nurse and Breast Cancer Survivor Shares Her Story

For Amanda Davis, life has required balancing caring for others while navigating her own cancer journey as a young adult.

Davis, who is 30 years old, is the mother of a 16-month-old son and works as a pediatric emergency room nurse at Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, New Jersey. In October 2024, she received a diagnosis of estrogen receptor-positive, progesterone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer.

She underwent a double mastectomy followed by reconstructive surgery, now takes anastrozole pills daily and receives monthly injections of Zoladex (goserelin), a treatment regimen she said her care team will have her on for at least five years.

Davis sat down with CURE for an interview during a visit to the John Theurer Cancer Center in Hackensack, where she is a patient, to discuss how her cancer journey has impacted her work as a nurse and to share advice for fellow young adult patients with cancer.

How do you think your medical background has helped you navigate the medical system as a patient?

I feel like I am probably not an easy patient, but I'm very understanding. I understand how long things take. I understand what is in your control as a medical provider, and what is not in your control as a medical provider, I understand that things happen. I understand that sometimes it can also be intimidating having a medical person as a patient, because you do know so much, and you do tend to hop to worst case scenario.

But something that I really appreciated throughout my whole journey is I was always spoken to like a regular person. I was never spoken to with a lot of medical terminology and a lot of complicated language and a lot of intense medical jargon, I would say I was always spoken to like just a regular person that this happened to, which I really appreciated, because when you're in a situation that's so emotional, you're not really thinking completely 100%, you always have a little worry in the back — you're listening, you're half-listening. So it was really helpful that they always spoke to me very plainly.

As a nurse, how do you think your own history as a patient has informed the way you work with patients and with patients’ families?

I have definitely become more patient. I would say, being that I work in pediatrics, especially, I always have the understanding that I don't just have one patient. I have three patients: I have the patient that I'm treating, and I have both of their parents. And especially being a parent myself now as well, I understand how scared you can feel and how that can impact maybe the way that you treat your nurse. Maybe you're just so nervous and you're not thinking clearly, and maybe that's why you yelled at me, or maybe that's why you're so uptight, and maybe that's why you kind of lost your cool a little bit. Everyone is going through something that you don't necessarily see on the outside. So I definitely became more understanding in my practice and more patient in my practice.

How are you now?

Now I am going to be honest, I have amazing days and I have not so great days. When I was going through a big chunk and majority of my treatment, people think, “Oh, you got your surgery, and now you're great.” You go through the hard stuff, and yes, I had a surgery, and I had a recovery, and I had a whole bunch of everything happen at once. But now I am in a next phase of this whole treatment and this whole journey, and I go through my monthly treatments, and I go through the next step. And sometimes I'm just a regular person, and then sometimes I'm sad, but it's important to have all of those feelings. I am in a phase of my life where everyone's getting married and everyone's having babies and everyone's having their second baby and their third baby, and that was something that I have on hold. Now, in my life, I am very fortunate that I am able to go on and have more children and live a normal life, but my life right now is not what I had planned for myself before any of this happened.

That’s not to say I'm an extraordinarily sad person. I am an immensely happy person. I have my son who is just amazing in every single way. We had the best summer ever. But I think it's important that other people understand that just when the big stuff is over, your journey is still continuing. And maybe what you thought would be the hardest part isn't the hardest part.

You mentioned misconceptions that people had, once you've had your surgery, being ready to move on with your life. What other kind of misconceptions regarding cancer and a cancer journey have you encountered?

People have their stereotypical image of what they think cancer is, and what they think a cancer patient looks like, and what they think cancer treatment is. And if you just look at me, I don't necessarily look like a cancer patient. I have hair and I go about my regular life. I'm not weak, I'm not sickly. I actually never had to do chemo, which was amazing. And I think that a lot of people think that, “Oh, you have cancer, you do chemo,” but there's so many different types of breast cancer in particular, that maybe that's not exactly your journey. So I feel like maybe just one day I'm having a bad day, and I feel like everyone else goes about their normal life, because I don't necessarily seem like a stereotypical cancer patient. You never want to look for sympathy or look for, say “Poor me,” but sometimes it's like, maybe I'm having a hard day. Say, “Hey, how you doing?” Instead of, “Oh, she looks great.”

What advice do you have for any other young adults who might be facing a cancer diagnosis?

I have definitely found that since I was diagnosed that this is happening to a lot more younger people, definitely more than it should, but I would definitely say that this is just a chapter. You still have a lot of life left to live, no matter what phase of your life you're in. I for one am looking forward to having another baby one day, and I'm looking forward to raising children and having grandchildren and going through the rest of my life normally. I will say that you have to do what you have to do in the moment, and you just have to realize that this doesn't define who you are for the rest of the rest of your days, you have to go through it now and then the brighter days are coming.

What has it been like being a parent during this cancer journey?

I think being a parent and going through cancer is definitely challenging, but it's a blessing in disguise as well, because you have your child and you have your reason every single day, even when there's days that you want to just lay on the couch and do nothing and cry all day long, you have your child that needs you, and I firmly believe that if I didn't have my son, I would not have been able to get through this in the way that I did. I always had a purpose, I always had a reason, I always had a light, and definitely in the phase of life that I am, I definitely could have become much more sad if I didn't have my son.

Have you thought about how to talk about this with him when he's a little older?

It's definitely something that he will eventually become privy to. I will eventually have to have that conversation with him. He would need to be a little bit older. I was very fortunate that at the time that all of this was happening, he was so young, and he didn't know any of this was happening. He didn't need to be scared. He didn't need to be worried. But there will come a time that we probably will sit down and have a conversation and say, “Hey, this is what happened when you were a baby,” and how to be kind to anyone else that he may encounter that has a similar, similar story.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

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