"Your mom is a hospice nurse? That has to be a tough job". This is something that I hear every time I tell someone that my mother is a hospice nurse and I am also pursuing a nursing career in hospice. Cancer is one of the fastest-growing diseases in the U.S. This disease is taking the lives of so many and stripping people of their loved ones. Cancer has hit both sides of my family very hard. My aunts, grandparents and most recently stepfather have all had cancer. Everyone is still with us but my stepfather who just recently passed away after a long battle. My mom is my biggest inspiration in life. It wasn't an easy road getting to where she is now. Having six kids, as a single parent in nursing school, was very difficult for her. Through it all, she pushed through and never gave up. Before my stepfather passed, she took care of him. even when he was in and out of the hospital, she continued to nurse him. If that wasn't enough, she even left her job, for a while, to stay by his side and care for him. Watching him decline over time, my mom being his nurse, loved one, and hospice clinician, along with realizing how much a person can change, due to sickness, motivates me to want to pursue nursing even more. I want to make a difference and do everything I can to help people during the most sacred time in their life. There is such a negative stigma when people hear the word "hospice". The perception to many is inaccurate. I will make a difference in my community, which is primarily poverty-level families, by educating them on what hospice is and what they can expect from being supported by a team of hospice professionals. I know that I will need a level of resilience to be a nurse in this field. I'm committed to providing the greatest nursing care possible, being a reassuring presence for the patient and their families, while having faith in my ability to do so. most significantly, to act as the patient's advocate for their needs when they are unable to advocate for themselves.