Cancer palliative care nurse leans on patients as she battles her own diagnosis

By Dillon Thomas

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    Colorado (KCNC) — A Northern Colorado woman who has spent years of her career helping patients navigate their cancer diagnosis says she leaned on her own patients for encouragement as she battled cancer herself. Riley Mulligan, a palliative care nurse navigator for UCHealth in Fort Collins, said she was able to battle her diagnosis of breast cancer by leaning into the courage of her patients while also taking lessons from herself.

Mulligan’s journey battling cancer started nearly a decade ago, but the cancer she was helping battle wasn’t her own at the time. As a palliative care nurse, her job was to help some of the most ill patients that UCHealth treats.

“I realized I had a huge love and passion for helping people remember they are still who they are, not their disease,” Mulligan said. “Palliative care is a version of medicine where we help symptom management and help people live.”

While Mulligan does help control pain through prescriptions and more, one of her main duties is to uplift patients with cancer by helping them seek out the beautiful things in life as they go through their battles.

“We encourage people to do things that give them joy,” Mulligan said.

After years of working with cancer patients, specifically those with Stage 4 cancers, she said she never had fathomed that one day she would be the one battling the disease.

“I was diagnosed with breast cancer last October,” Mulligan said. “It was terrifying. Being as most of my patients are Stage 4, of course I thought the worst.”

Mulligan suddenly found herself on the other side of her work. She had to endure five months of chemotherapy, one month of radiation, a double mastectomy and all the mental challenges that come with those hurdles.

And throughout the process she said she had to also listen to the advice she had always given her patients.

“I’m trying to take my own advice, I am trying to remember how to live. On the days I felt the worst, the most nauseous and tired, I still tried to get out and do things because I knew it would help me feel better,” Mulligan said.

That included getting out and socializing with her coworkers, friends and family even when she didn’t feel up to it.

She also decided to continue rowing, something she always enjoyed doing before her diagnosis. When able, Mulligan said she was out on the lake with her peers, pulling herself through her journey.

Because of her support system and her willingness to seek out the positive things in life, Mulligan said she was able to better navigate her battle with cancer through a more positive lens.

“I am a year cancer-free now. I am doing great. I am getting my strength back. I am getting my energy back. And, I feel like a new and improved version of myself,” Mulligan said.

Mulligan said she is going to continue celebrating life. In January she plans to go on a trip to Norway, something she has always wanted to do. She will be going with a friend, who was also one of the nurses who helped her during her battle.

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