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All Children's Hospital nurse returns to give back at hospital where she beat cancer

By FOX 13 News Staff
Published  September 9, 2024 9:32am EDT
St. Petersburg
FOX 13 News

Tampa area nurse returns to former hospital

A Tampa area nurse and a familiar face to Good Day recounts her story of being diagnosed with cancer and being taken care of at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital and how she's now paying it forward as a nurse there.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Lindsey Belcher wears many hats on the seventh floor at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital: patient dance partner, dinnertime helper, friend, and registered nurse. 

The seventh floor at All Children’s is the hematology and oncology floor of the hospital, filled with kids that have blood disorders or cancer. 

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Registered Nurse Lindsey Belcher, has worked there for a year. She says nurses here need to be flexible. 

"It takes a funny person. It takes a lighthearted person, but it also takes a serious person and a critical thinker. It takes somebody who can sort of be all of those different attributes for these families at their most vulnerable times," she says. 

The daughter of FOX 13's Charley Belcher, Lindsey has a unique story that brought her to work at the hospital. In addition to all the hats she wears in her job, she wears one that will never come off: cancer survivor.

She was diagnosed with leukemia on Christmas Eve of 2007 after weeks of having strep throat and being extremely tired.  

"The moment that sticks out the most is my dad and I went to go see Alvin and the Chipmunks, and I slept through the entire movie," she recalled. "And then he was like, okay, we need to figure out what's going on."

It was the beginning of a two-and-a-half-year fight that unfolded at All Children’s. Lindsey was only seven years old when she began chemo treatments in the form of pills, spinal taps, and transfusions. 

"But I never realized the intensity of the situation. It was never that I could die. It was, 'oh, I'm sick and I'll get better. It's just going to be hard,'" said Lindsey. 

She attributes much of that optimism to her nurses. 

"I remember getting toys. I remember eating chicken wings. I remember my nurse having cool Crocs and being able to pick the Jibbetz that she had in them. I remember playing in the play areas."

Those fond memories nudged Lindsey’s life, and eventual career, in a certain direction. She recalled how her life and vocational goals shifted after her diagnosis.

"Before I got diagnosed with cancer, it was pop star, movie star, singer, dancer. And then I got diagnosed, and it was pediatric oncologist, and it was scientist and it was nurse and doctor. Like, all of a sudden, everything changed in my mindset at that exact moment," she said. 

Now, she’s paying it forward to her patients and their parents. 

"The little kids have their fright, and then it's over and they're playing again. And the parents are sitting there still in that moment of where their child was so upset. I learned a lot about how much my family went through versus me emotionally," says Lindsey. 

It’s an empathy Julie Haase appreciates. Her daughter Shelby has leukemia and Lindsey is her nurse. Treatments for Shelby and Julie involve 30-day stays in the hospital. 

"Lindsay was one of the first nurses that was there that held my hand and told me everything was going to be okay," says Julie. "I think it helps when she shares her story. I think parents feel a little bit better that she went through cancer, and she survived it. And now she's a great nurse taking care of their kids that are going through that."

Lindsey says she never intended to come back to the same hospital where she beat cancer and help others do the same. But she sure is glad it worked out that way. 

"I wasn't thinking the whole time I was in high school and the whole time I was in college that I will be back at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, but something called me back here, and I love that I am here."

FOX 13's Charley Belcher took a moment Monday morning to speak on his daughter's story, his pride on all that she's done, and appreciation for it being told.

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"Proud is not even a strong enough word, I wish there was another word in the English language; I'm beyond proud," Charley said. "When something like that happens to you, you can't help but ask why. Sometimes you don't get your questions answered as quickly as you'd like them to be answered, but maybe [her story] is why."