Cancer patient becomes nurse at MACC Fund Center; same place she was treated

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) — When you ask a child what they want to be when they grow up, you often expect astronaut, teacher, firefighter, or another answer that likely changes every few years.

But there's one woman who, from the start, knew she wanted to become a nurse. Kathleen Topp has been known as 'Cookie' all her life, since her older sister couldn't say her name. She works at Children's Wisconsin's day hospital, where children come in for infusions, chemotherapy, or different blood products.

About 3,000 children come through every year, looking to beat cancer. While it's a terrible diagnosis, the kids, Cookie says, have a great outlook. "They could be receiving the worst chemotherapy ever, or super sick, and they're still laughing, giggling, running around the place," she shared. It's an experience she's familiar with.

"Being able to be on the other side of it is a nice perspective for me because I know how they're feeling," she said. That's because she got her own diagnosis at 12 years old, when she first noticed she had "little weird spots" on her legs, which she described as appearing like mosquito bites. That was coupled with fevers and losing weight.

For weeks, doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with Cookie. She explained the frustration over the unknown, wanting to be in summer camp with her friends.

Eventually, doctors found out she had cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. It required nine rounds of chemotherapy, followed by a bone marrow transplant, thanks to her older sister.

"I just kind of took it minute by minute, day by day, and kind of got through [it]." -- Cookie

Eventually, Cookie got to ring the bell, marking remission.

Montse Ricossa:

How did that experience shape high school and picking what you wanted to do as your career?

Cookie Topp:

Before I was diagnosed, I was terrified of the hospital. Like anything; needle shots, doctors really, really freaked me out. And then, of course, I got diagnosed, and I was like, 'I'm gonna have to face my fears very quickly because this is gonna become my norm'... I kind of remember looking at my mom and, like, having this realization. I'm like, 'Mom, I want to be a nurse, but I want to be like a nurse here.' I want to be a nurse, like these nurses that literally got me through the worst days in my life."

Cookie went to school for nursing, always wanting to get back to the place she knew so well. She noted her first day of work "felt like I was home." That home is the MACC Fund Center, treating children who were in her same position some years ago.

When Cookie tells kids about her diagnosis, she said first they express "surprise. And then you kind of just see this sigh of relief. They're like, okay, like there's something visible in front of me that is proof that this — there is an end and there is a positive outcome here." An outcome that keeps getting better, thanks to organizations like the MACC Fund, and nurses like Cookie.

"I feel like if I have any chance to be that someone for another one of these families or a patient that's going through the worst time of their life, then I want to be that. I want to be the light in this dark tunnel that they're in, and show them that there is a path out of this."

For more information on the MACC Fund, click here.