Most doctors and nurses get into the medical field because they are inspired by family members. Sharyn Boissevain was no exception. She was not a nurse before her father, Pieter, got sick. She was in school and thought that she wanted to get into women’s health and labor and delivery nursing. After taking a couple classes in school that were about cancer and cancer treatment, she started getting really interested in oncology. At the same time, Sharyn felt nervous about stepping into an area that was so close to home for her. Talking to various professors and counselors about her dilemma reassured her when they told her that many health care professionals get into oncology because of a family member or friend who had been diagnosed. 

In nursing school, Sharyn took a job as a nursing assistant on a bone marrow transplant unit. This was one of the first times that she realized oncology was the right career path for her. Sharyn once told me, “I felt so connected with the patients and I just wanted to learn as much as I could about how to care for this group of patients. I think it was partly because, for whatever reason, oncology was just a good fit for me, but I think I was still just wanting to learn what my dad was up against.” After realizing what her father as well as her family was going to face for the next few years, Sharyn was ready to take her first job as a nurse at UCSF.

Day in and day out, Sharyn spent her time with cancer patients, just like her own father, comforting them and caring for them. As time went on, she realized how valuable her job was in her personal life because of her own connections to cancer. However, there were definitely positive and negative aspects of being in the oncology field. In times of question regarding her father’s illness , Sharyn had many answers, yet sometimes knowing the answers made it more difficult: “My knowledge and nursing skills really helped my parents when they had a question or if my dad needed help with his medications or his port, etc.  I could help my parents advocate for my dad's treatment in ways that other people dealing with cancer cannot do. But then it was also hard because it was almost like I knew too much.  I've seen many success stories on my unit, but also many sad cases as well.” It was a continual struggle for Sharyn to try to balance her professional and personal life, yet she did an amazing job at supporting her patients while simultaneously supporting her family.

Now, two years after Pieter’s passing, Sharyn, as well as myself, still struggles with the fact that cancer took the life of such an amazing, genuine man and father. Sharyn once said: “Sometimes it's hard to put into words about how I feel about my dad and the fact that he was diagnosed with a cancer that ultimately took his life.  I still look for him, hoping, thinking that he will still be coming back.  That fact that he is gone just feels so final and it's really hard to put my head around it still.” When she says this, she is not only speaking for herself, but for me as well. I know how difficult it has been for her as a nurse, interacting with people just like her father every day. I have so much respect and admiration for Sharyn and all of the strength that she has had throughout the past eight years. I look up to her as a sister, a nurse, and an amazing daughter.