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The challenge of managing brain cancer is about to get easier for some Charlotte-area patients.
On Aug. 19, Carolina Neurosurgery and Spine Associate's first brain cancer nurse navigator will start work as a patient advocate and communication liaison between doctors.
“My experience has taught me to listen,” said nurse Renee Kelly, who spent much of her career in pediatrics. “My position will help everyone navigate through the system and help reduce any stress.”
As a brain cancer navigator, Kelly will be available to patients at all Charlotte-area hospitals, including both Carolinas Healthcare System and Presbyterian Healthcare. She'll step in once a patient undergoes a biopsy and is diagnosed with cancer – easing worries, answering questions and scheduling treatment.
Kelly's position is being funded by a three-year $180,000 grant from the Brain Tumor Fund of the Carolinas, a nonprofit organization founded by retired Bank of America executive Jim Palermo and Charlotte neurosurgeon Dr. Anthony Asher. The grant money comes from donations collected at the annual Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium cycle race and community contributions to the fund.
“Our primary focus has always been to provide support and funds for patients and research,” Palermo said. “She (Kelly) has a magnetism that will help bring order to the (cancer) journey.”
Asher said the brain cancer treatments are complex and may seem daunting to newly diagnosed patients. Kelly will serve as the go-between for patients as they deal with radiologists, pathologists and oncologists. She'll also take care of outpatient services for patients and their families.
Kelly moved to the area four years ago after her husband's job brought their family of four to Charlotte.
She earned a bachelor's degree in nursing and her registered nursing certificate at Boston College. She spent 10 years at the Children's Hospital Boston and then moved to the Jimmy Fund Clinic at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute., also in Boston. Her experiences lie in inpatient and outpatient clinical research, hematology and pediatric liver transplantation.
“I've spent my whole career keeping people informed and being available to help,” she said. “I'm going to learn how to be helpful without being another invasive process in the treatment.”
