Preds Fan, Cancer Survivor Uses Love of Sport to Help Children Through Their Fight

Ashely Lance knows the sixth floor of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt better than most.

As a pediatric oncology nurse, it’s where she spends most of her time caring for patients as they engage in a fight no child should have to endure. But she knows how to relate - because she’s been there before.

Lance was only 12 years old the first time she saw the sixth floor. An active preteen, Lance thought she had simply pulled a muscle when she felt a pain in her back one day. But when the discomfort didn’t subside, an MRI revealed something much more.

Doctors found a softball-sized mass on Lance’s spine - a discovery that instantly changed the trajectory of her childhood. Instead of returning to seventh grade after the holiday break, Lance found herself taking residence at Vanderbilt for 22 days the first time around to battle stage three large B-cell lymphoma.

“I ended up going through the eight rounds of chemo over the span of eight months, and all of them were inpatient, so I spent a lot of time on the sixth floor getting to know everybody, patients and staff alike,” Lance said. “It kind of became my second home.”

The natural reaction for most would likely be a desire to never set foot in such a place ever again after a pediatric cancer diagnosis.

But now, 17 years later, she can’t imagine herself being anywhere else.

“Working back at Vanderbilt on the sixth floor is very much like a familiar experience, but the difference is I have been there on both sides,” Lance said. "Being there as a patient, you get to see the hard stuff, but also the fun stuff that they do for children, especially because it's really hard being a kid in the hospital. I got to see all of that, and I bonded with a lot of my nurses and they made the experience as good as it possibly could be, and that is essentially what made me want to be a nurse. I credit everything to the nurses there from when I was a kid. My goal has always just been to be like them eventually.

“Some of my favorite memories on the sixth floor as a patient definitely had to do with Child Life. They were a huge part of everything. And they involve music therapy and so many different things just to make it a little bit more normal and not quite as sad. My other favorite memory is when my aunt bought me a slingshot monkey. It essentially had very stretchy arms, and my nurses and I would be in the hallway trying to see who could shoot things further with the slingshot monkey. It was probably not the smartest idea at the time, but it made us kind of forget about what was going on… That’s definitely one of my favorite memories.”

Lance and a number of her colleagues will be in attendance when the Predators host their annual Hockey Fights Cancer Night this Saturday at Bridgestone Arena, a night she says she wouldn’t miss for anything.

A Nashville native, not only is Lance a lifelong Preds fan, but her mother formerly worked for the organization in human resources. She makes every effort to support the children who will be honored on Saturday, because she remembers being on the other side of the fight, once attending a game in former Predators forward J-P Dumont’s suite and wearing a hat to keep her head warm.

“I got to invite like four or five of my friends, and my mom, of course, and we had just an absolute blast,” Lance said. “I had no hair, so I had a hat because it's a little chilly in there, but we just had a normal time as teenagers, which you don't get a lot of when you're going through treatment. So, I always just encourage patients and parents to look out for things that can be a good distraction. And a lot of times, sports is one of those things.”

She uses that love of sport as a way to connect with her patients today, and she finds building a bond through that commonality is ideal for the situation on both sides. If a patient is watching a game or has a poster of their favorite athlete in their room, it’s a perfect conversation starter.

“I love sports - I’ve grown up playing and watching - and I truly think that they are one of the best distractions for people in the hospital,” Lance said. “My favorite times as a patient, a lot of times, were watching sports or sports movies. And so, as a nurse now, I love to just incorporate it when I'm trying to bond with my patients, because creating a rapport is very important. And if you can get them to trust you and feel comfortable with you, a lot more times it's better for both of you.”

That shared bond can help bring a sense of normalcy to a patient, something those in the pediatric cancer wing often crave.

"It's hard to focus on just being a kid when you're in a hospital, because it's not normal,” Lance said. “Being in seventh grade, especially as a girl, is a very telling time of middle school. And while my friends were all around me talking about boys and who they wanted to go to the spring dance with, I was saying, ‘I can't go out because I could get sick very easily.’

“And that's one of the biggest things I try to explain to people is we appreciate boring and normal after being in the hospital.”

Of course, attending a Preds game is anything but boring and normal, and Lance hopes that those who get the chance on Saturday find new hope in what they might be dealing with. Being there in person to show support is important for Lance, too, because she knows exactly what it’s like to be on the other side of the fight.

“The energy on those nights is always very hopeful and inspirational and resilient,” Lance said. “To be honest, I feel like everyone's working towards the same goal. And everyone's really excited to be a part of something as big as Hockey Fights Cancer.”

Lance never imagined she’d be in for the challenge of her life at 12 years of age, but she’s grateful the experience helped shape the rest of her days.

Most people don’t know what’s possible on the sixth floor, but Lance does. And when those elevator doors open every day, she finds herself thinking of just how powerful the Preds and sports can be to someone in need.

“I just want everyone to know that the work the Predators do…and for Hockey Fights Cancer, it truly is so important and there's so many people that benefit from it,” Lance said. “I get to see those kids every day, and it’s very heartwarming. It reminds me why I do what I do as well. It’s just one of my favorite things to be a part of, and I plan to be here every year for it."