9 West nurse Emily Barr relates to her patients in ways she never imagined when she began her career. She returned to her job at Riley in September after battling brain cancer for more than a year.
"January 2024 was my first fall or my first seizure and then March, two weeks after I turned 25, was my second seizure where we found everything," Barr explained.
Barr recalled getting out of the shower before her shift and then waking up on the floor surrounded by blood and her dog, Hank, sitting next to her.
"I woke up and I called my mom and she's like, 'Call 911,' so I called 911,"Barr said.
As EMS brought her to IU Health North hospital, her big sister met her there.
"They stapled my head," Barr said. "Got a CT. The CT results came back, and it said something about a mass."
The next step was an MRI.
“Sure enough, the results came back, and I’m sitting there with my sister, and it says, ‘suspect primary glial neoplasm,’” Barr explained. “I literally just looked at my sister and was like, ‘Wait, do I have a brain tumor?’”
At IU Health North, the care team gave Barr the option to either transfer to IU Health Methodist or go home and take a moment to decide her next steps. Together with her family, she decided Dr. Angela Richardson would perform her surgery at IU Health Methodist. Barr recalled the day Dr. Richardson called her with an interesting question.
"She's like, 'What if we do your surgery awake,'" Barr remembered. "And I was like, 'I mean, okay!'"
In April 2024, Dr. Richardson performed Barr's awake craniotomy to resect the tumor. She spent merely one night in the ICU and went home the next day.
Barr continued to recover for the next several months but returned for two shifts at Riley.
"During that, I couldn't drive so one of the shifts, one of my co-workers, he lives like 30 minutes away from here, he picked me up, took me to work, [and] brought me home the next morning which adds like an hour to his drive because my drive's even longer," Barr explained. "One nurse even took me to an MRI after a shift. One thing that I've probably learned from Riley is [that] you can't do it alone."
To continue treating the cancer, Barr underwent proton radiation at the University of Florida for two months before taking oral chemo. She was able to stay with her former babysitter who is more like an aunt to her.
"So, I decided to stay in southern Georgia, and it was just a 45-minute drive five days a week down there," Barr said.
Barr returned to work at Riley in September. She said her cancer journey changed how she cares for her patients, especially those with a similar diagnosis.
"You've been on the other end of that so many times working on 9West," Barr said. "I feel like so many tumors are found overnight. The kids get up to the floor, and you're the first person that they meet. They may have met a few of the doctors downstairs, and they may have gotten the news; they may not. You may know they have a tumor when they get up to the floor, and they don't even know yet. Being on the other end was like eye-opening."
Barr said it is rewarding to share some of the tips she learned along the way with patients and families.
"There's one kid that's had a few resections, and he has a tumor in a very similar location," Barr explained. "So, one night he was coming up from the ICU, and his incision was right here, and I was like, 'Listen, I know how to keep the headwrap or the icepack [on] if you do this and this. So, I'm like showing mom."
Today, Barr is in remission. She shared immense gratitude for her family, friends, Hank, and her Riley co-workers, who walked alongside her through this unexpected journey.
"I mean they're just great," Barr said. "Everyone, from 9West to all of Riley."
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