A legacy of nursing
After she graduated from Iowa Methodist School of Nursing in 1967, Bonnie McCausland spent nearly 40 years providing loving, compassionate care to patients of all ages in a variety of different health care settings.
Her warm, outgoing personality made her a memorable fixture in the office of Dr. Ken Devries at the UW Health Waunakee Clinic for 15 years before she retired.
“She loved her work,” said her husband, Dan McCausland.
In April 2020, Bonnie was taking Coumadin, due to a heart valve replacement and noticed she had a very irregular result from testing she did to monitor the medication’s effects. Dan took her to the emergency room, but due to COVID restrictions, he could not go inside with her.
Bonnie stayed overnight for testing and evaluation, and the following day they discovered Bonnie had stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
Bonnie was referred to UW Health | Carbone Cancer Center and started an aggressive treatment plan that involved three regimens of chemotherapy; 33 infusions in all. Dan said she tolerated those very well, and her nursing background helped with managing her home care. She also maintained her positive outlook.
“She never complained,” he said. “It would be easy to have a ‘why me?’ attitude, but that was not her way.”
Bonnie’s chemotherapy ended in early October 2021 after it was determined the treatments were no longer benefitting her. She passed away on October 28.
Pancreatic cancer has one of the lowest five-year survival rates compared to other major cancer types. The main reason is it’s often not diagnosed until the later stages when the cancer has spread and is much more difficult to treat.
Dan said he felt fortunate that Bonnie lived 18 months after her diagnosis and credited that to her expert care at Carbone Cancer Center.
“The Carbone doctors and nurses prolonged her life and gave us more time together, for which I will forever be grateful.” Dan said.
They especially connected to the nurses who were always friendly and warm during Bonnie’s chemotherapy appointments and were a reassuring and kind resource during after-hours calls.
That’s why Dan established a scholarship fund in Bonnie’s memory to help provide more educational opportunities for oncology nurses. Five $2,500 scholarships are awarded each year to oncology nurses at Carbone. The funds help pay for conferences, classes or any other training programs.
“If we can do something with a little bit of money that will let other nurses pursue their calling with additional education, that’s something of value, and something Bonnie would have wanted,” Dan said.
So far, 10 scholarships have been awarded with another 5 recipients being announced this summer.
Lindsay Denu, a nurse in Radiation Oncology at Carbone was one of last year’s recipients.
She wrote, “I’m excited to participate in the annual Oncology Nursing Society conference in Washington D.C. where I will further my education in radiation oncology to share with future patients and my colleagues. The scholarship has also helped me pursue a goal of mine to become a Certified Oncology Nurse, creating an in-depth knowledge base for my role as an oncology nurse.”
Dan is certain that Bonnie would be pleased.
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