Oncology Nurse Tammy Zinn on Hope, Heart and 30 Years of Care

Tammy Zinn has spent nearly 30 years as an oncology nurse, a career path she traces back to a deeply personal experience. When she was 17, her mother was diagnosed with head and neck cancer, and over the next three years, Zinn watched her family move through diagnosis, surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation with little support to lean on. The nurses who cared for her mother, she said, cared for her whole family too, guiding them through treatment and eventually through her mother's death.

That experience shaped Zinn's understanding of what oncology nursing could be. The compassion shown by those nurses, from the inpatient unit to hospice care, convinced her that she was meant to be a caregiver, and it set her on the path to the role she holds today as director of clinical support services at Lee Health Cancer Institute in Fort Myers, Florida.

Now a finalist for the Extraordinary Healer Award, Zinn has built much of her career around a simple idea: that hope is not separate from cancer care, but central to it. She believes patients need hope that there is more time ahead, that better treatments exist, and that they can share their journey with family without becoming a burden to them. Without that hope, she said, patients and caregivers alike struggle to get out of bed each day.

That belief in the importance of emotional and psychosocial support, alongside medical treatment, led Zinn to help launch Emma's Wish, a program for patients with advanced breast cancer that grants meaningful experiences, fully funded, so financial strain never stands in the way. The program has granted more than 22 wishes, including one that reunited a mother with her daughter in Puerto Rico after five years apart. Zinn also helped bring the Cancer Support Community to Lee Health Cancer Institute, a free program built around connecting patients, caregivers, and survivors with others walking the same path, offering everything from support groups to art therapy.

Asked to describe oncology nursing in three words, Zinn landed on courage, advocacy, and authenticity, values she said extend to how nurses care for themselves, not just their patients. Her advice to nurses hoping to make a lasting difference is to stay true to themselves and to prioritize self-care, something she said her generation of nurses rarely did, even though it is what allows them to sustain the work over the long haul.

Above all, Zinn said she hopes the patients and families she works with come away feeling inspired and hopeful, and knowing they are not alone in their journey.

For more news on cancer updates, research and education, don’t forget to subscribe to CURE®’s newsletters here.