By Anna Meiler
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BOSTON (WBZ) — Idalina Colburn works on the eighth floor at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston helping cancer patients navigate their complicated treatment plans. It’s something she understands firsthand because on most Thursdays, she goes up to the ninth floor to receive chemotherapy herself.
“I currently have metastatic cancer to the bones and liver, but here I am and I’m living my best life and I love life. I love what I do. I’m fed by my career,” said Colburn, who works as an Oncology Nurse Navigator at Dana-Farber.
Inspired by grandmother:
Idalina always knew she wanted to become a nurse. As a young girl living in the Azores, she was inspired by her grandmother, who had no formal education, but was the person everyone called upon for help and healing.
“She delivered all the babies in the village including myself and my siblings and she just took care of everyone,” said Colburn.
Idalina’s grandmother died from metastatic breast cancer when she was a teenager. After that, she felt a calling to help those with cancer.
“I always felt like I want to do this. I want to help people. I want to be like her. So that was always my inspiration,” she said.
Idalina became the first person in her family to graduate high school and college, finally finishing nursing school at the age of 40 while raising her kids. But, soon after, she became more like her grandmother than she had ever planned.
Breast cancer diagnosis:
“Here I was at the age of 40, six months out of nursing school with this beautiful career that I was so excited about and so fed by and then got diagnosed with breast cancer,” said Colburn.
That cancer was caught early and cured. But, 12 years later it was back and it had already spread.
“This is not a bad thing. It’s actually a blessing in some ways,” said Colburn. “I think that having this diagnosis, especially metastatic disease, it makes me so thankful, even more so than I ever was, for every day, for every blessing and what I’m doing.”
Idalina says having cancer has made her a better nurse.
“I know what it’s like when somebody says, ‘You have cancer.’ I know what it’s like when somebody says, ‘We can’t cure you, but we can support you.’ I know what it’s like when we have to have that difficult conversation that we’re at the end of treatment and we need to focus on comfort,” she said.
“I love what I do”:
Idalina doesn’t know how much time she has left, but she has no plans to slow down.
“My family has said ‘Mom, why are you still working? Why don’t you just stop working? You can go on disability. Why? I’m not ready to do that. I’m living. I love what I do,” she said.
Idalina isn’t letting her diagnosis hold her back in her personal life either. She plans to renew her wedding vows with her husband this summer thanks to Wish Upon A Wedding, an organization that provides celebrations to couples facing terminal illness.
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