St. Mary’s Medical Center’s pediatric oncology nurse, Mary Prokop, is inducted into the Tenet Heroes Hall of Fame, Tenet Healthcare Corporation’s highest honor for employees.

 

When Prokop’s daughter was diagnosed with leukemia and was treated by the pediatric oncologists at our hospital, Prokop’s life was changed forever. The care that both she and her daughter received touched and inspired her more than she could believe. One instance that she remembers vividly is when a nurse gave her daughter a teddy bear the day she was diagnosed. After her daughter fully recovered, Prokop returned to school to become a registered nurse and work at the same hospital and on the same unit where her daughter received care. She now works side-by-side with the same physicians who helped save her child’s life. She has drawn from her own experiences to be that special nurse who can not only help to medically treat a pediatric patient with cancer, but also provide the empathy of someone who has gone through the process.