Summers County ARH Hospital House Nurse Coordinator Brianna Richmond, RN, was wrapping up her final semester of nursing school when she said she began to feel a little off.
“I was exhausted, but I was a senior and finishing up my clinicals, so I just kind of ignored it,” she said. “I was really tired, but I just kept going.”
Before long, exhaustion gave way to pain severe enough to send her to the hospital where scans showed her left ovary had ruptured.
“It was when they did the surgery for that, that they found cancer,” she said.
It was January 2020 when Richmond, then 20 years old, was diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer.
“It was shocking and scary, but I just kept going,” she said.
Richmond’s definition of “kept going,” is perhaps more akin to plowing ahead as, after surgery to remove her ovary, she then underwent chemo for eight hours a day, five days a week, for four months, all while keeping up with her classes online.
“My instructors would actually go to the cancer center to give me my exams,” she said. “I would have never been able to make it if it wasn’t for them.”
Though she acknowledges it wasn’t easy, she graduated on-time and began her career.
Three months after graduation, in August 2020, she was scheduled to undergo surgery to remove benign tumors from her stomach. Instead, she returned home with surprising news.
“I was told the chemo would make me unfertile and that I would never have kids of my own,” said Richmond, who was already the stepmother to her husband Eddie’s two children. “But when I went in for the surgery, they found out I was pregnant.”
Nine months later, Richmond gave birth to son Brenton and then immediately underwent a 9-hour hysterectomy.
Things were going well until her yearly screening in October 2022.
“That’s when they told me I had colon cancer,” she said, adding the second cancer diagnosis hit a bit harder than the first.
“It was devastating,” she said. “The first time wasn’t easy, but the second time I had a toddler at home. I had a full-time job. It wasn’t like I could just take time off. I had responsibilities and I was scared.”
Fortunately, the screening caught her cancer early and it was completely removed through a colon resection.
“I’m doing great now,” she said. “Technically I am in remission, so they just keep a watch on my labs, and I have a full body scan every year.”
Though life – nursing school, motherhood, a full-time job and two cancer diagnoses – has been hectic over the past five years, Richmond added another ball to her juggling routine when she enrolled in an online nurse practitioner program through Walden University.
“I finished up in August,” she said. “I just need to take my boards. That’s the next step.”
Richmond credits her family and her healthcare team, and her coworkers for supporting her throughout her journey.
She is especially grateful to one coworker in particular, though she doesn’t know the person’s name.
“I got a call from someone at the corporate level that I had been selected as the EDcellence Award winner,” she said of the monthly system-wide award that recognizes employees who exemplify excellence in education and personal development.
“I have no idea who nominated me,” she continued, “But it really is an honor, and it makes me proud to be recognized for my work.”
And though her path hasn’t always been easy, she said she is grateful for the lessons she has learned along the way.
“If anything, it’s made me realize if you really want to do something, no matter what stands in your way, you can most definitely do it.”
