By KSDK-TV, Friday, April 21, 2006

Breast cancer patients are no strangers to nurses on the oncology floor at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. But when one of their own was diagnosed, it was a situation many of them had never encountered. This is the story of two nurses. One fighting a battle for her life; the other on a mission to help a mentor.

Helping cancer patients is what Barnes-Jewish oncology nurse Sherry Hartig does best. Imagine her fellow nurse and mentor''s surprise when Sherry announced she was running a marathon.

"I thought what, ''You don''t have to do this,'' and she said, ''MP I want to,'' ''But you''ve never run before,''" says Mary Paula Moellering.

"I''ve been getting the team in training flyers in the mail for years now I''m not very athletic, I don''t run... ever," says Hartig.

"She''s a great nurse, big, bigger heart than she is, she''s only a tiny little thing and then when she decided to this, I was speechless," says Moellering.

You see, Mary Paula Moellering is more than Sherry''s mentor. She''s the reason Sherry runs.

"I had two lumpectomies and I had 10 chemos and then 30 radiations, so then I was finished like September of 2004," says Moellering.

Mary Paula survived breast cancer, but just as she was ready to return to work, something unexpected happened.

"It was just supposed to be a routine checkup because in October I was fine," says Moellering.

But she wasn''t, chemotherapy to treat her breast cancer caused secondary leukemia. It''s a rare side effect that happens one percent of the time.

"They didn''t know whether to call security or the psych department because I tore that examining room apart," says Moellering. "I was furious, and then I found myself standing in the corner saying what did that solve, what did that accomplish, so I just kind of wiped my eyes and said what do we do?"

Mary Paula underwent a stem cell transplant. Now after months of treatment, she''s leukemia free, and once again, ready to return to work. Mary Paula''s battle inspired her young protégé to do more.

"I just decided after talking to Mary Paula and deciding I''m nurse here, and everybody thinks that''s enough, but to me it wasn''t enough," says Hartig.

So she runs, for the patients she treats and the mentor who shared her gift for nursing.

"How can you ever say thank you enough to somebody that''s going to run 26 miles and has never run before?" says Moellering.

She runs, training for a 26-mile trek with one mission, raising money and awareness about leukemia and lymphoma.

"Every time I feel like I''m slowing down a bit or want to stop, I just keeping thinking about them, and their treatment, because they can''t slow down, they can''t stop they have to keep going," says Hartig. "So I know it''s comparing two different things, but it helps me keep going."

Sherry runs her marathon June 4th in San Diego. Mary Paula participates in the Komen St. Louis Race for the Cure June 10th. Komen is a paid sponsor of our friend to friend program which brings awareness of breast cancer throughout the year.