When Joanna J. Burgess was a little girl, she cared for all her stuffed animals in the hospital she had set up in her basement - complete with oxygen tanks made out of plastic wrap, fictional disease names taped onto pill bottles and a pretend X-ray machine.

"I loved it, and I always wanted to be a nurse," said Burgess of Apex.

Burgess has served patients at Duke University Medical Center, a mountain clinic in Honduras, a children's rehabilitation center and an outpatient lymphedema clinic that she started in Chapel Hill. She has been a wound, ostomy and continence nurse at WakeMed Cary Hospital since 2008.

At age 3, Burgess was given a 10 percent chance of survival after being diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare bladder cancer.

Playing hospital helped Burgess understand what was happening to her and to other children receiving cancer treatments at Children's Hospital Boston, she said.

She had a urostomy to replace her bladder and was treated with investigational chemotherapy and high doses of cobalt radiation. That type of radiation treatment involved higher doses in larger areas because specialists could not pinpoint the radiation to a specific area the way they do today, Burgess said.

Multiple health issues linger from the treatments that saved her life. She has endured bone pain, along with stomach pains and colitis. Lymphedema caused her leg to swell to double its size for several years, until she was helped by lymphedema therapy.

When she was 29, Burgess began a string of surgeries, including plastic surgery to repair the radiation burns on her back, replacement of both hips and a colostomy, she said. The surgeries relieved significant pain, but she has limited range of motion and lives with ongoing aches, she said.

Through all of her medical challenges, Burgess chose to focus on the positive. Along with the strong support of her family and friends, she is sustained by the childhood memory of reaching toward a light during a near-death experience.

"Since then, I've always felt joyful," Burgess said.

A friend called Burgess' attitude "radical joy" because it comes from an unexpected place, Burgess said.

"It's about changing something that's been adverse or wounded into a place that's joyful," she said.

Helping patients

Now Burgess uses that joy to help patients at WakeMed Cary Hospital. Those facing ostomy surgery often are depressed or fearful about the way their lives are changing and feel shame talking about how to go to the bathroom, she said. Along with giving medical guidance, Burgess shares her story.

"I step in and say I'm going to help you get through this because I understand," she said.

Mary Olivera of Cary met Burgess while she was recovering from colostomy surgery at WakeMed Cary Hospital. Burgess helped Olivera find a pouch that fit properly and guided her through months of often-painful changes, even going to Olivera's home to help, she said.

"I am so grateful to her, because if it wasn't for her I would be totally lost. She has so much compassion," Olivera said. "She is a tremendous example to me that life goes on."

Melanie Johnson, supervisor of inpatient wound and ostomy care at WakeMed Health and Hospitals, has seen the way Burgess goes the extra step for patients and staff, she said.

"I think her positive energy is the key with her," Johnson said. "Even without her story, she would be an extraordinary person."

Great comeback

Burgess, 48, was honored for using her story to help others and for overcoming her own medical challenges when she received the 2011 Great Comebacks Award for the South region. Burgess made a promise to continue to tell people about her experiences.

"It's fun to see that change in people. It's so rewarding for me," Burgess said.

Burgess would like to see an outpatient ostomy clinic open at WakeMed Cary Hospital, she said. The clinic could provide additional education and support patients after surgery.

Patients also can find help from support groups, counselors and life coaches. It is important to have someone who can help patients find the tools to navigate and provide confidence, Burgess said.

Burgess said she is excited to be one of the people who provide assistance to others.

"Sometimes one little change in perception can be your little miracle," Burgess said. "Finding someone or finding it within yourself to change one little thing and alter that perception of whatever's going on can truly change your life."