Breast cancer survivor completes triathlon and becomes chemo nurse to help other patients

    MILWAUKEE (WISN) -- One Aurora Health Care nurse's life has changed drastically in the last two years. Tiffany Young is now a cancer survivor, a chemotherapy nurse, and a triathlete.

For 17 years, Young has helped patients navigate tough medical diagnoses. Then, in 2021, at age 44, her world was turned upside down when she found a lump in her own breast.

"I was diagnosed with stage three triple negative breast cancer," Young said.

The diagnosis was heartbreaking, but Young was ready to fight after watching her mother, grandmother, and several aunts go through the same illness.

"I was a little emotional, well, a lot of emotional," Young said, laughing. "But I was gearing myself up to fight this. It was very unpredictable, but a cancer diagnosis is not a death sentence, and I was ready for whatever."

After six months of chemotherapy, surgery, and hours of physical therapy, Young is now cancer-free.

"I learned a lot from that diagnosis," Young said. "I learned how to be vulnerable. I learned how to ask for and accept help. I learned how to allow people to take care of me and not be the one to always take care of others, or fix everyone else's problem."

Young was out of work for 18 months during her treatment. When she came back to nursing, though, she decided to transfer from a role in dialysis to the cancer ward. Young says she wanted to work with patients who she could relate to on a deep level.

"I love my job," Young said. "I love walking into that clinic and seeing the faces of those families and those patients. This time of their life is very unpredictable, but I've been there. I've sat in that chair."

On Young's work badge is a photo of her without hair from when she underwent chemo. She says that was a deliberate choice.

"I don't always tell patients, 'Oh, hi, my name is Tiffany. I'm a cancer survivor, I'm a nurse, I'm here to take care of you.' But when I see that patients are struggling, and especially when it comes to losing their hair — that is probably one of the biggest fears that my patients have — I can show them my picture and say, 'It grows back' and 'It's OK.'"

As if that's not inspiring enough, post-cancer, Young is now completing athletic feats she never dreamed of achieving.

"You're also a triathlon athlete," WISN 12 News reporter Mallory Anderson said. "How did that come to be? Is that something you always wanted to do?"

"Absolutely not," Young said, laughing. "Now that I've done it, I'm like, 'Why have I never done this before?'"

Young is on Team Phoenix — a group started at Aurora Health that trains female cancer survivors to compete in triathlons.

Doctors at Aurora say the program's purpose is to instill in people the lifelong joy of exercise and acts as a form of physical therapy after patients' health is depleted due to chemo.

"I did not know how I was going to go downstairs and do my own laundry after chemo, so to run a triathlon was like a dream, a dream that came true," Young said. "It changed my life, and I'm grateful. I'm actually grateful for everything that I've been through. It made me a much stronger person."

"I've been a cancer physical therapist for 30 years and was a co-founder of Team Phoenix, so I have been at the finish line for hundreds of finish lines and I don't get used to it," Leslie Waltke, Aurora Health Cancer Rehab Coordinator and Young's physical therapist, said." It is literally one of the best days of my life, because each person that comes across has their own story, their own treatment plan, their own background, their own future, their own past. To see people's smiles, their fist bumps, their tears of joy, their tears of relief, getting across the finish line-- literally, that's what it's all about."

Waltke pushed Young to join and is proud of how far she has come, not only as an athlete but as a nurse and patient, too.

"The oncology nurses at Aurora are just fantastic," Waltke said. "But when you can add somebody that can flip their badge over and say, 'I've been in that chair, I've lost my hair, and I'm OK, I'm healthy, and I'm a triathlete. I think that's just a super extra bonus."

Team Phoenix is open to female cancer survivors of all ages — and is not just for those who have received treatment at Aurora. All training is overseen by medical professionals. For more information, click here.