Brenda Griswold
May 2025
Brenda
Griswold
,
BSN, RN, OCN
Infusion Procedural Center
UVA Health
Charlottesville
,
VA
United States
I was able to sleep the night before chemotherapy because I knew that Brenda was going to care for me gently, without judgment, courageously, and with a smile. I truly cannot imagine my experience without her; she held my hand and walked me without fear through a thunderstorm.
I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 36 years old and told I would need 6 rounds of chemotherapy, a mastectomy, 6 weeks of radiation, and one year of immunotherapy. I am currently 6 months out from receiving chemotherapy at the Emily Couric Clinical Cancer Center, completed my surgery, radiation and only have 3 more rounds of immunotherapy. The course of treatment in itself was certainly traumatic, knowing I would come home and feel like a ghost within my body while my four-year-old and two-year-old played around me. There was one nurse during my chemotherapy portion of treatment who went beyond expectations. She treated me like one of her children, and I know she told me she had 6 children of her own. She gave me four of my six rounds of chemotherapy, adjusting her schedule with her own family to be my nurse because she knew it would make my experience less of an affliction to an already super painful experience. Her name is Brenda Griswold. She would give me confidence, quoting her daily scripture, which she had read that morning, knowing she would share it with those in need. She encouraged me to think positively and welcomed whichever family member was present, making my time in the Cancer Center somehow a pleasant time. I was able to sleep the night before chemotherapy because I knew that Brenda was going to care for me gently, without judgment, courageously, and with a smile. I truly cannot imagine my experience without her; she held my hand and walked me without fear through a thunderstorm. She would tell me how beautiful I looked when I lost my hair and I know it was genuine, so I felt beautiful regardless of losing my long, dark, curly hair. I knew that I could fall asleep in the chair at the Cancer Center, and she would take care of my port line, scrubbing all the hubs between each administration. I would have to receive a five-minute injection every visit into my thigh, and I could tell that it hurt her to be at the hands of any pain towards me, but she administered it because she knew it would kill my cancer. I felt like Brenda wanted my cancer cells to die just as much as I wanted my cancer cells to die, like every time she put on her chemotherapy PPE, she was suiting up to be my superhero. What a blessing it was to have her care for me. I want to thank her from the bottom of my heart for guiding me through my own personal calamity with a light of grace.