Childhood Cancer Survivor Becomes Nurse in His Former Pediatric Oncology Unit
Jaziel Olmeda Macias spent his childhood as a patient on a pediatric oncology unit. Today, as a nurse, he's caring for patients in the very same rooms he was once treated in and reminding us all, healthcare workers or not, to donate blood for those fighting against all types of blood cancer.
Jaziel Olmeda Macias (@jayinscrubs_) was around seven years old when his parents noticed that he wasn't interested in climbing his favorite tree outside anymore. "It was a really big, beautiful tree and I used to climb it every day, Olmeda Macias remembers. "Over the summer, I stopped wanting to climb the tree. I was too weak to climb the tree—and that's what made them seek out help and think, 'Something is wrong here'."
Olmeda Macias would go on to be diagnosed with leukemia and spend the next decade—his entire childhood—in and out of the hospital undergoing cancer treatment. When he was declared cancer-free at age 18, Olmeda Macias enrolled in college with a very specific goal: to become a Registered Nurse and return to the same pediatric oncology unit where he was once a patient.
Today, he has done just that and Nurse.org got a chance to speak with Olmeda Macias—fresh off his night shift—about his full-circle work as a pediatric oncology nurse.
A Childhood Cancer Journey
Now 25 years old, Olmeda Macias, BSN, RN, works as a Pediatric Hematology & Oncology nurse on the oncology cancer and blood disorders unit at the same Phoenix-area pediatric hospital where he was once a patient himself. He can relate heavily to the patients he cares for because he well remembers the first time he stepped off the elevator doors onto the pediatric oncology unit.
"It was my first ever hospitalization ever in my life," Olmeda Macias remembers. "I was sharing a room with someone else, and I just remember that they kept putting the St. Jude's commercial, and I was so confused. I was like, 'Why did I keep playing that? Why am I here?'"
At just seven years old, Olmeda Macias didn't know what the word "cancer" meant. He tells Nurse.org that his early memories of seeing other kids with no hair and masks and missing limbs are mostly those of confusion. But his reality as a childhood cancer patient would soon settle in, as he would go on to spend the next decade of his life in and out of the hospital for treatment for his cancer.
After his initial diagnosis, he underwent three years of treatment before being declared in maintenance for his cancer in the spring of 2011. Unfortunately, on October 31 of the same year, doctors discovered that his cancer had returned—and this time, very aggressively. At the same time, Olmeda Macias' family also discovered that he had a specific genetic mutation that made him susceptible to leukemia, which made his case even more challenging to treat.
Because of the aggressiveness and type of leukemia he had, Olmeda Macias was told that his only chance of survival was a bone marrow transplant, followed by radiation. A bone marrow transplant requires a match of at least 8 DNA markers, which is usually best found in a close relative. As one of four boys in his family, two of Olmeda Macias' brothers were found to be a bone marrow match for him. In February 2012, his 8-year-old brother bravely served as his donor.
Despite the transplant going smoothly, on October 31, 2012, Olmeda Macias found out his cancer had returned yet again. If you're paying attention to the dates, you may have picked up on the fact that both times Olmeda Macias heard his cancer had returned fell on Halloween.
"I know," Olmeda Macias chuckles. "And yet, I still love Halloween."
This time, at only 12 years old, with one failed bone marrow transplant, Olmeda Macias was given a choice to keep fighting the cancer or withdraw care. He says he did have conversations with his parents about discontinuing treatments, but ultimately, a friend and fellow cancer patient he met at the hospital inspired him to try again.
"You know how they say you meet, like your friend or your soulmate in a friend form once in a lifetime, kind of like a twin flame?" Olmeda Macias says. "She was my twin flame. She told me to keep fighting, that we'll do this together, you know, we'll survive together. So I decided to keep fighting."
A Twin Flame Kept Burning
Thanks to the support from his twin flame, Olmeda Macias found the strength to try another treatment. This time, he faced stronger chemotherapy, an experimental study, and another bone marrow transplant. For the surgery, Olmeda Macias' 3-year-old brother served as his doner. Due to his young age, the transplant took a full two days to harvest the bone marrow.
Although Olmeda Macias would require a full month in the hospital post-transplant, it would be successful, leading to him being declared cancer-free five years later in 2018. Sadly, he shares that his friend and twin flame who inspired his own continued fight would lose her own to cancer shortly before his transplant.
"I went into my transplant, extremely sad and heartbroken," Olmeda Macias says.
Olmeda Macias' flame hadn't been fully extinguished but he would face challenges keeping the fire burning. Continued hospitalizations, the loss of his friend, a decade of treatment, and many hard days with symptoms like nausea and fatigue were difficult to face.
On a particularly hard day, Olmeda Macias had an encounter that once again, gifted him the strength to keep going. This time, his inspiration came from his nurse, who shared with him that she too, had once been a patient on the same oncology ward he was on.
"I was like, 'Wow, that's pretty cool," he remembers. "That's where my aspiration to become a nurse began seeing that my nurse went through exactly what I went through—the same cancer, the same room, the same everything—is here on the other side. And I know for a fact that's where I was like, 'This is what I want.'"
Full Circle
Somehow, despite spending nearly all of his school-aged years as a pediatric cancer patient, Olmeda Macias managed to stay fairly on track academically. He utilized independent study through a charter school for his first year of high school, but by his sophomore year, his advisor informed him that if he wanted to graduate with his friends, he would have to add night school to his already demanding schedule.
"For two years, I took night school and my normal high school schedule," he explains. "So I would go to school from 8 AM to 6 PM."
By his senior year of high school, Olmeda Macias had finally caught up to his peers and had been declared cancer-free. He decided to get involved in volunteering and joined cancer advocacy groups to spread awareness and raise money for research.
Having decided on his future career path as a nurse, Olmeda Macias enrolled in community college for two years before transferring to a university to earn his Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Fresh out of nursing school, he was hired directly into the unit where he was once a patient, fulfilling a childhood dream that had started in the very rooms he once frequented.
He admits that stepping through the elevator doors for the first time as an RN instead of the patient was an emotional one. Olmeda Macias first returned during his clinical rotation and while nothing can fully prepare someone for returning to a place that held so much trauma for him, he shares that a lot of therapy and reminding himself that "their journey is not his journey" helps him get through.
Today, Olmeda Macias has worked as a nurse at the hospital where he was once treated for a little over a year and he notes that while he doesn't make a point to share his story with all of his patients unless he feels it will help them, many of his patients already know him—-from the multitude of pictures of him as a patient that adorn the walls of the hospital.
"They really need to update those," Olmeda Macias laughs.
Olmeda Macias says he has learned how to cope both as a cancer survivor and an oncology nurse and now finds his career very rewarding. "Yes, it's very emotionally, physically, like any nursing job, exhausting," he says. But I really like that my patients have a zest for life, you know, because they don't know when their last day is. I can be tired and everything, but just knowing that they're giving it their all gives me the energy to give my all."
A Blessing in Disguise
For Olmeda Macias, the strength to do the job he does comes largely from realizing what an incredible journey he has been on—and feeling empowered by how far he has come. While he says that his childhood cancer experience was largely supported by his family and his community—support he is incredibly grateful for—he now can also draw on his own inner strength to realize what he is capable of.
"I still get a lot of support from my family, and I will forever be grateful. But I feel like now I'm able to tell myself, 'You did this, so there's so much more you can do,'" he explains. "I feel like the universe is always guiding me, and that's kind of where I gain my strength from."
Whether "good or bad," Olmeda Macias says he feels like there is "always a lesson in something" and even believes that his cancer was a "blessing in disguise."
"Cancer sucks, and it still does, but now I see it as like a blessing in disguise," he describes. "I met so many amazing people. I was able to find my passion. I was able to, you know, network with so many people. I was able to find, you know, that it's not about me, it's about me and my community. That's why I started volunteering, and I feel like that's why I see my cancer as a blessing in disguise—the worst type of disguise," he quips.
Today, Olmeda Macias continues to give back, both in his work as an oncology nurse and in partnering with Vitalant to encourage volunteers to donate blood and blood products. (Side note: if you're encouraged to schedule your blood donation appointment immediately as I was in writing this profile, Olmeda Macias recommends donating Power Red instead of just blood as that allows you to donate both your red blood cells, your platelets, and your plasma instead of just your red blood cells—"You can save up to three lives at once," he explains.
He has shared his story with multiple outlets and received honors and recognition for his work and life so far. Olmeda Macias also has a special affinity for nurses and healthcare workers who are considering working in oncology. He encourages anyone who thinks they may be interested in working with oncology patients to realize that no matter how big or small their interaction with a patient is, it matters.
"I feel like everyone, even from janitorial services, played a huge role in my cancer journey, because everyone was always so happy to see me," he says. "It sucks being in the hospital, but being in the hospital with a life-threatening condition, you never know if you might wake up the next day. So just knowing that I had that full support from everyone, from cleaning services to my patient care tech to my occupational therapist, to my nurses—they all played such a huge role in my journey in helping me find little bits and pieces of strength to fight another day."
By now, Olmeda Macias is used to the shock people have when they find out what he has been through and the decision he has made to return to the place where he spent so much of his life fighting cancer.
"I always get that," he says. "People ask, 'Why would you do that? Are you crazy?' I remember one time someone asked me, 'Why do you even want to be a nurse? Do you even like nurses after everything they've done to you?'
'You mean after they saved my life? Yeah, I do.'"
