Laurel resident Britney Atkins, 22, works as a certified pharmacy tech in Salisbury, Md., and has been studying biology at Salisbury University. “I had been interviewing at pharmacy schools,” she says. And then she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in November 2005.

She was treated for cancer at Tunnell Cancer Center. Getting to know the other patients and the nurses made Britney decide what her career would be. “I heard the patients tell their stories,” she says, also describing the caring nurses. “I want to be a nurse, work in a cancer center, and help the patients. And I would like to work with children.” Britney finished her treatments in May 2006 and has been cancer free.

Even before her diagnosis, Britney was helping those with cancer. She took part in Relay for Life for five years, representing the American Cancer Society of Wicomico County in Maryland. “A girl at work got me involved,” she says.

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