When Nurse Becomes Patient

Alumnus Justin Regan, who works with cancer patients, overcomes the disease himself.

Justin Regan had already gone to bed when he received the call with news no one wants to hear: your test results are in, and you should head to the emergency room immediately.

When Good Samaritan Hospital's crisis center called, Regan, an oncology nurse whose job was to prepare cancer patients for the grueling battle ahead of them, had an idea of what was coming. He prepared his son, who drove him to the hospital, for the worst.

Regan, a 2006 graduate of the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program in the Regis Loretto Heights School of Nursing, was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, a rare blood cancer.

Regan said he once thought completing the Accelerated BSN Program would be the most difficult experience of his life. But his cancer diagnosis changed that. The grueling battle with myelodysplastic syndrome proved to be the most daunting challenge of his life. But if anyone knew the struggles that would come with fighting cancer, it was Regan.

Regan, who was diagnosed in 2020 and has been recovering since two stem cell transplants, still works with cancer patients, hoping to play a part in easing the same type of pain that he experienced. This spring, he helped raise money for an organization that helped him through his treatment process: the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

A SECOND CAREER IN NURSING

Regan's path to nursing was unconventional. A flight attendant for 21 years, he and his wife Val, also a flight attendant, decided to pursue new careers. When Val asked him what career he would pursue if he could start all over again, he said he would've been a small-town doctor. But he decided that, at age 42, medical school wasn't in the cards. So, he switched to a new dream: to become a nurse.

He discovered the Regis Accelerated BSN Program, which allows students who already have bachelor's degrees to complete required nursing courses in one year, and that put him on a path to achieving his new dream. Val, meanwhile, became a teacher.

The nursing courses weren't easy — and completing them in one year required dedication. But Regan said he was motivated and had support from friends.

"I had never done that much homework in such a condensed amount of time," Regan said. "You know, you get through it. And I made lifelong friends. You go to battle together, basically, and you come out at graduation."

“I really bought into the Regis philosophy, the tenets, especially 'how ought we to live?"

Regan also took the University's Jesuit mission to heart. As a student, he received a booklet listing the Jesuit values. "I actually have that still, and I'll still read through it," he said. "I really bought into the Regis philosophy, the tenets, especially 'How ought we to live?'"

After he graduated, he launched his new career in 2007. In 2011 he worked at Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge, Colo., as a float nurse, which means he moved between different units to meet changing staffing needs. Eventually, he worked with oncology patients.

"I thought, ‘oh, man, I think this is going to be it for me.' I just fell in love with that whole realm, and became an oncology nurse in 2012," Regan said. From that point on, he cared for hundreds of cancer patients, often preparing them for stem cell transplants. As much as he prepared his patients for transplants, though, Regan didn't work directly as a transplant nurse, so he didn't see what his patients went through after they left his care.

"A lot of the leukemia patients (I was) getting ready for transplant, but I never knew the transplant world," he said. "I just prepped them for it." Then came 2020.

"I THINK I'VE GOT LEUKEMIA."

As the world began grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, Regan began feeling fatigue unlike any other he had experienced in his life. His hospital's policy concerning workers who felt ill, at the time, was to send them home until they tested negative for COVID-19. So, Regan went home and took a test. When it came back negative, he took another. That came back negative, too.

Regan, still feeling fatigued, couldn't go back to work until he saw a doctor, according to his hospital's policy. When he finally did, he asked his doctor to test him for leukemia.

"He was trying to work me up for cardio, and I'm like, ‘No, no, no, doc, I'm an oncology nurse,' and I go, ‘I think I've got leukemia.'"

The hospital drew blood. At about 9:30 p.m. that night, Regan had already been in bed for two hours because of the fatigue when the hospital's crisis center called to tell Regan he should go to the emergency room. His son drove him to Good Samaritan Hospital in Lafayette.

Regan recalled that he told his son, "‘Listen, pal, this may not work out. This may not turn out well, just so you know.'"

FINDING SUPPORT

One of his biggest supporters throughout the process was the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Regan was diagnosed on Monday and received a call from LLS the next Wednesday.

"It was like I was sitting in a complete daze. I was like, 'My life has changed,' and … they were there. They've been there every step of the way."

Nearly four years after his diagnosis, Regan worked closely with LLS to raise funds as part of the organization's Visionaries of the Year Fundraiser, which creates fundraising teams to raise money over 10 weeks. The money raised by Regan and others helps support the organization's mission to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma and improve quality of life for patients and families. Support includes patient counseling and funding research.

Regan said his family — his wife Val and sons Tristan and Ian — helped support him from the moment he received his diagnosis, from sanitizing their home constantly to driving him to doctor's appointments to offering words of support.

It's a type of care Regan passes on to his patients. Today, he is an oncology nurse care coordinator with Kaiser Permanente.

"I still think of myself as a survivor," Regan said. "I don't let it hold me back. I don't keep looking over my shoulder waiting for the other shoe to drop or whatever. I'm going to live my life doing what I want to do to the best of my ability."

HELP SUPPORT LLS

Since receiving his diagnosis, Justin Regan has received support from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, which advocates for patient care and research. You can help support the organization at lls.org.