Author Kim Nottingham was working as an oncology nurse in a Northeast Ohio hospital when a patient quietly grabbed her attention with a story about life. This interaction represents one of the most memorable moments in her nursing career.
Valley View, OH, September 10, 2010 — Author Kim Nottingham was working as an oncology nurse in a Northeast Ohio hospital when a patient quietly grabbed her attention with a story about life. This interaction represents one of the most memorable moments in her nursing career.
The young woman told the RN she had experienced so much personal tragedy that when faced with cancer, she felt her life wasn’t worth living enough to seek treatment. Instead, she held fast to her secret and allowed her disease to progress. As the caring nurse listened intently, the patient reflected on the consequences of that decision because, like a cruel twist of fate, her situation had unexpectedly changed. The woman said after enduring years of an unhealthy marital relationship, she found true love that could bring her joy for a “lifetime,” one she had, by choice, severely limited.
“And yet, she still had this hopefulness,” Nottingham said, “even though she faced the possibility of dying and the fact that she had a part in it.”
While the RN spent only a short amount of time with the patient, it was the woman’s gracefulness and peace amidst a heartbreaking struggle to survive that inspired Nottingham to write The Path That Led Me Here.
“I ‘ve found taking the time to really listen and connect to patients is enlightening,” Nottingham said. “We all have different people who are placed in our path for a reason. My life and career was blessed by this patient, and my hope is that others will be touched by the story as much as I was.”
Now a wound care nurse for Summa Health System in Akron, Ohio, Nottingham said she continues to actively listen to patients and recognizes she has an opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life each time she goes to work. “I love the nurturing of bedside nursing,” she said. “Those connections with patients balance the challenges of the nursing profession.”
She also finds nurturing in anything creative, including cooking, gardening and her writing. The author recently raised money for the Salvation Army by donating a portion of the proceeds from book sales during a presentation at her church. While working on a new novel, she is promoting The Path That Led Me Here ( http://www.thepaththatledmehere.com ) hoping to offer inspiration to the many people facing a sense of hopelessness. She is speaking in November during a meeting of the Summa Hospital Women’s Board in Akron.
Nottingham is a graduate of Kent State University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She is currently in her sixteenth year of her career and comes from a family of nurses including her mom, aunt, and a cousin. She was born in Columbus, Ohio, and lived throughout the Buckeye state in communities where her father was hired as a school administrator. She currently resides in Stow, Ohio with her husband and two children.
Her inspirational, fiction novel ( http://www.thepaththatledmehere.com ) is available in paperback at all online book retailers. Autographed copies are available for purchase through her publisher, Halo Publishing International http://www.halopublishing.com. The novel can be viewed on Facebook and at http://www.thepaththatledmehere.com
Press & Media Contact:
Lisa M. Umina, Publisher
Halo Publishing International LLC
5549 Canal Road
Valley View, OH 44125
216-255-6756
lisaumina@halopublishing.com
http://www.thepaththatledmehere.com
