A special group of caregivers inspires cancer survivor to pursue her dream career
Kate Hardaway has taken recent trials and allowed them to become her inspiration and motivation.
San Antonio, Texas — After the storm, the sun will shine again. Rays of light are finally beginning to shine on cancer survivor, Kate Hardaway’s path. The 17-year-old has taken recent trials and allowed them to become her inspiration and motivation. She has much to celebrate including beating cancer, graduating high school one year early and recently being accepted into Abilene Christian University where she will pursue her newfound dream of becoming a certified child life specialist (CLS). Many people have never heard of this job, but it is one Kate and other childhood cancer survivors know well.
“My child life specialists were a big motivator throughout my treatment,” Hardaway said.
The CLS team at Methodist Children’s Hospital has been with Hardaway during her one-and-a-half-year journey with stage four Hodgkin lymphoma. “They helped explain all of my surgeries and they even showed me a port and let me access it before it was put in. They made sure I always had something fun to do during my hospital stays,” she recalled.
“I want to be able to help kids going through treatment like me and now I feel like I have a unique perspective.”
Hardaway’s strength and compassion for others radiate during each conversation with her. But she has not had an easy road to follow. Her diagnosis put a pause on many life events to which teenagers look forward. Her first hospitalization prevented her from being able to attend her high school’s homecoming dance, prompting her care team to organize a surprise homecoming in the hospital. Just when she thought she was cancer-free and about to earn her driver’s license, cancer put a pause on another exciting moment.
“I started getting [symptoms] again in May [2020] and they did scans and my cancer had come back. The treatment plan was to do two or three rounds of chemotherapy and then a stem cell transplant,” Hardaway said.
The transplant left her with little energy and extreme sickness. The weeks-long hospital stays during a pandemic felt isolating at times. Her family, friends, nurses and the child life specialists helped her push through. Their encouragement paired with her grit, allowed her to excel in school from her hospital bed.
“In November 2020, I got pneumonia and was admitted back into the hospital,” she said. “I just started doing a lot of my school work during that stay. I got a whole bunch of school work done and I finished my junior year around Thanksgiving.” Hardaway says her teacher asked if she wanted to go ahead and pursue the coursework for her senior year. Driven, Hardaway agreed.
At the time, Hardaway thought she would graduate high school early and take a gap year before attending college. However, only a few weeks later, during an impromptu visit to the northwest Texas area, Hardaway scheduled a tour of Abilene Christian University, one of the few universities in Texas with a child life specialist program. “I loved it so much that I went home and completed my application that night,” Hardaway said. It was perfect timing because applications were due four days later. To her parents’ delight, she was accepted.
Hardaway will return to Methodist Children’s Hospital for follow-up care during her college career. She is looking forward to the day when she can walk through the hospital doors as a child life specialist who motivates, educates and serves as the person children can lean on and confide in during their hospital stays; the same way her child life specialists have cared for her.