People often feel powerless when someone they love dies of cancer. Jennifer Hartley watched her grandmothers, both parents, her aunt, mother-in-law and sister-in-law all lose their battles with the disease. She deeply mourns their loss, but Jennifer is in a unique position to do something positive with her pain.

Jennifer is an oncology nurse and works with cancer patients each day. She knows what their family members are going through. She has faced the same fears and asked the same questions. Jennifer empathizes with her patients and she offers them hope by telling them about clinical trials.

“Don’t be afraid of clinical trials. Don’t be afraid of cancer,” Jennifer tells her patients. “We are where we are today because of what we did yesterday, and where we have the opportunity to go is incredible. There are people here to help you, we want to help you and we can help you.”

One of Jennifer’s patients recommended she be the very first research nurse for the $50 million cancer research center now under construction at the University of South Alabama in Mobile. She’s excited about the center and its potential to provide cutting-edge cancer clinical trials and treatment to patients. The center draws patients from the entire Gulf Coast area, and having a state-of-the-art cancer center available means they won’t have to travel for treatment or be away from their support systems.

Jennifer has one-on-one talks with her patients and their families, explaining clinical trials and dispelling the many myths that surround them. As a member of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Tour of Hope™ Team, she’ll be able to have that conversation on a much larger scale. “We are making progress. The only way we will keep moving forward is to do clinical trials.”

Jennifer’s loved ones leaned on her during their struggles with cancer. She cared for them, helped them make decisions and guided them through very difficult times. They will be on her mind every day as she rides on the Tour of Hope. “This fight is personal as well as professional for me,” she says. “This is one of the most exciting times in cancer research that there’s ever been. We’re on the verge of changing cancer research forever. There is hope, but we can’t stop now.”