Nurse Mudge, the new school nurse at Dobie Jr. High, helps care for Dobie students each day. It can be a hectic busy job to take care of more than 1,200 students, but she does it with grace and a smile. Behind her gentle care for all that ails Dobie students, she is fighting in a battle for her life. She has stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. 

On May 5, 2015, Nurse Mudge was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. She has faced more hardships than most, but this is one of her toughest obstacles. She faces it with bravery and strength, inspiring people along the way. 

Less than a year before she was diagnosed, her husband, Coach Mudge, passed away on March 21, 2014. Since then, she’s been a single mom to her two young sons. KSAT News aired a story about it in 2015.

She says there is no cure for her cancer. She takes a chemo pill every day and also has chemo infusions every three weeks. Nurse Mudge has to get an infusion in her port for the rest of her life. “I have to just keep hoping that one day they will find a cure,” she said. 

Breast cancer, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), is a very common type of cancer. Invasive carcinoma is the most common, according to the American Cancer Society website. Breast cancer is when a cell in the breast starts to grow out of control, and usually form a tumor or felt as a lump that can be seen on X-rays. In every 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. 

Nurse Mudge was originally a labor and delivery doctor, but after her husband had a stroke in 2013 he could not watch their kids, because he could not swallow or walk. He couldn’t drive their kids anywhere, who were two and four at the time. “Being a school nurse just fit more into my schedule,” she said.

Nurse Mudge says she is determined to keep fighting. “I am a little stubborn, my two boys Tanner and Jackson, and all of you guys keep me going,” she said, adding that another thing that keeps her going is knowing that there are other people “fighting the fight just to let people know that no matter what things stand in your way that you can still keep going, and having that determination and hope that everything will work out.”

Nurse Mudge says she is grateful for all who support her. On Pink Out Day at Dobie, a day meant to raise awareness about breast cancer, several staff members wore “Mudge Strong” t-shirts that they purchased to support Nurse Mudge’s nonprofit, Mudge Family Foundation. Many others wore pink as well to show support. 

“The people that support me have no idea how much it helps me get up and go and fight every day through the pain. If I didn’t have people to help me I don’t know if I would make it,” she said. “It takes an army to fight something you cant alone.”

She says that she will always remember her husband’s words: “If winning was easy losers would do it.”

Resources:

https://www.ksat.com/news/new-braunfels-widow-fights-toughest-battle -news article and video   

https://www.cancer.org/cancer/breast-cancer/about/what-is-breast-cancer.htm -about breast cancer