Keisha Barnes just came back to work, and was welcomed with open arms.

“It’s been a long journey,” she says.

The Certified Nursing Assistant has worked at La Rabida for 24 years. She spends her days in the hospital caring for patients: changing diapers, untangling cords, and making sure patients are safe and sound.

“It’s not just a job. At the end of the day we are the first ones they see in the morning, the last person they see before bed,” she says.

Right before Thanksgiving this year she returned to the bedside.

“I was ready to come back,” she says. “Seeing these babies gives me strength.”

Nearly a year ago, doctors diagnosed her with stage 3 breast cancer. Testing revealed she had the BRCA 1 breast cancer gene.  Her mother had died of ovarian cancer, too.

“The strength that I had comes from working here,” she says. “I figure these babies go through so much and if they can survive I knew I could do it as well.”

Off work since May for treatment, Barnes had a double mastectomy and a preventative hysterectomy. Then she had chemotherapy, radiation, and immunotherapy.

“It was horrible,” she says. “I had regular chemo and the ‘red devil.’ My head was floating in pain, achy, tired, and a lot of fatigue.”

But the same week she returned to La Rabida, she got to “ring the bell.” She finished her radiation. She could call herself a survivor.

“Somedays I did want to quit,” she remembers. She was scared of the radiation, afraid it would affect her lungs or her heart. Her skin still burns, like it was microwaved. But being back in the hospital, she says, is the perspective she needs.

“Working with the kids and seeing what they have to go through, that gives me motivation. We care. We are empathetic. We love working – it’s not just a job.”

“It’s helping someone who can’t help themselves.”