MADISON, Wis. — A nurse who worked to help COVID patients is now a patient herself, battling something she never saw coming.
Jamara Hopkins has worked as a CNA at St. Mary’s Care Center for the past three years. Hopkins typically works in the memory care unit, but when the pandemic started making its way to patients and nurses there, Hopkins would gear up to help out in the COVID unit when staffing was short.
“We would have to gown up in full PPE, N95 masks, gloves. It was a little unnerving. It’s hot, you can’t take your mask off,” Hopkins said.
Little did she know that she would walk into the COVID unit for the last time in July after finding out she had stage-2 breast cancer.
“It was more of a struggle than the regular struggle,” she said.
Every two weeks, Hopkins goes in for chemo and radiation.
“My chemo week, I can’t come to work because I’m too nauseous and sick or I’m extremely fatigued.”
Hopkins was once getting paid to work 85-100 hours per pay period which helped support her two kids. Now, at fewer than 64 hours per pay period, she’s fallen about a month behind on her bills and the medical costs keep adding up.
“It impacted me financially, mentally because I’m trying to figure out how do I go about continuing to provide when I’m not at full capacity,” Hopkins said.
As someone who is used to helping others, Hopkins is now the one asking for help, something she said she’s never had to do.
“This is something I never thought would happen in my life.”
Despite the added hardships she faces, Hopkins has found a way to keep her head up while she waits to see if the chemo is working.
Hopkins said she still has a long way to go before she can return to work full time. If you would like to help Hopkins with her medical and household bills, you can donate to her GoFundMe here.
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