Connection and compassion: Helping patients navigate cancer's complexities

[Allina Health Newsroom, March 11, 2025] An April day eight years ago started a succession of very dark days in the life of Tom, then 61-years old. His provider had just reviewed results of a biopsy and informed the Champlin man that a tough-to-treat cancer originating in the back of his throat had spread to the lymph nodes in his neck. Soon after, RN and Oncology Nurse Navigator Michele Kranz, picked up the phone to help Tom try to make sense of his diagnosis and long road ahead.

From the day these two total strangers first talked, Tom and Michele have remained closely in touch. 

“Head and neck cancer completely turns a person’s life around,” says Michele. “He was often overwhelmed, anxious and tearful. I received numerous phone calls from him and his wife with questions regarding the plan of care, sometimes patiently answering the same questions over and over to ensure their understanding.” 

To provide ongoing support and clarity on the path forward to Tom and his wife Nancy, who also served as his caregiver, Michele joined them for many of Tom’s appointments. “I could be their voice throughout their cancer journey when they didn’t know what to ask or how to advocate for themselves,” she says. “My focus is always to ensure they receive health care that addresses the needs of their whole person.” 

Michele’s role in setting up support for people with cancer often involves coordinating their care team of oncologists, as well as support services such as social work, patient financial navigation, and dietitian visits.  She’s in regular touch with her patients, letting them know they can always call her for help, too.

“There are tools in place within our EMR to keep me up to date on what is happening with each patient. The technology cues me in to when I need to look at their scan result, or to connect with them,” she says.     

For almost seven years, Nancy partnered with Michele in easing the effort to navigate Tom’s overall recovery from treatments such as oral surgery, chemo and radiation. Then, last year, the couple sustained three heavy blows that altered the household’s choreography of care.

First, Nancy was diagnosed with dementia, which manifested rapidly. Then, Tom developed a second form of head and neck cancer.  And shortly after, Nancy was diagnosed with cancer of her esophagus.

Tom now needed to take care of his wife. 

“So suddenly, the caregiver for Tom has become the patient,” Michele says. “It was incredibly challenging in that they were both patients of mine, however they were both caregivers for their spouse. They only had each other. They didn’t have children, and they didn’t have a support system.”

They did have Michele. Yet despite 12 years as an Allina Health oncology nurse navigator, she says she knew the work ahead would pose a particularly tough challenge. 

“It took all hands-on-deck to manage everything. I knew I was going to need to be the person they could lean on, and they could give everything to,” she says. “Thankfully, having history with them I knew what to expect when Nancy was diagnosed. I knew what they were going to need.”

Last August, newly enrolled in hospice, Nancy passed away at age 65. Tom is in remission and continues to receive the services he needs. Michele stands ready to support him in any way she can, fortified by the many experiences and years she’s helped her patients navigate their cancer care. 

“I needed her there for comfort,” Tom says, of the span of time since he learned of his first cancer diagnosis. “It meant everything having her there.  I don’t know what I would have done without her.”

“It is hard, but it’s so rewarding,” Michele says. “I consider it a privilege. I get to see patients face to face every day.  I get to educate them, which I love to do, and I get to try to eliminate some of the burden that a cancer diagnosis can have on them. Even with some of our saddest cases, if I know I’ve made the tiniest bit of difference for that patient and family, it’s worth it.”