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Keeping the Faith

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Craig

Harrison

Submitted by:
Adele Harrison

In September 2012, Craig Harrison had just completed his night shift as a nurse at Nebraska Medicine and joined his friends for a round of golf. He was lining up to putt on the 2nd hole when he felt a strange sensation pass through his body and he suffered a grand mal seizure. He was 27 years old. He was transported to Nebraska Medicine and went from being a nurse in the neurosurgical ICU to a patient. He will never forget the moment he heard the words “you have brain cancer”. He was diagnosed with stage 3 anaplastic oligodendroglioma. Over the next 6 months he endured brain surgery, three rounds of chemotherapy, and six weeks of radiation therapy. While he was receiving treatments, he was unable to work as a nurse. He is not the type of person who can sit still for very long, so he decided to use his free time to better help patients who have received the same daunting diagnosis as him. He started his own nonprofit called Save the Brain Campaign, which focuses on creating awareness on brain tumors and raising funds to try to develop a cure. To date, Save the Brain Campaign has successfully raised over $15,000. Craig continues to get MRIs every 6 months and his tumor continues to show no growth. He married his wife, Adele, in 2016 and together they welcomed their first daughter, Hadley, on August 30, 2017. Today, Craig has returned to work at Nebraska Medicine as a Clinical Nurse Educator. He is working directly with nurses in the ICU and Progressive Care Units to better their skills at working with oncology patients. He uses his personal experiences as a patient to ensure oncology patients and their families are receiving the best care possible. Brain cancer may have changed Craig’s life, but Craig has made it his passion to change the lives of all cancer patients. I could not think of a more deserving person for the “Keeping the Faith” award. While Craig has suffered through his own battles, he strives every day to improve the lives of others.