The Villager Newspaper Online Your Community News – Cleveland's Westshore
LCCC Graduate Becca Behler Reflects on Battling Cancer, Returning to Care, and Giving Back to the Community
by Leigh Keeton
Becca Behler thought she had her life and career in front of her.
It was early summer in 2020, and Becca had recently graduated from Lorain County Community College with an associate degree in nursing. She was working in the cardiac telemetry and observation unit at University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center. She was also dating someone she knew would one day become her husband.
Then, her world turned upside down. In July 10, 2020, Becca was diagnosed with cancer.
“It was terrifying,” she said. “I called my mom, hyperventilating pretty much, because I just couldn’t believe it.”
Becca was 22 years old at the time—healthy and active. But the numbers didn’t lie. When Becca asked to see the results from her blood draw, she was shocked.
“I wanted to see my white count,” she said. “A normal white blood cell count is around 11. I was like, ‘Oh, I’m sure it’s probably 13, right?’ It was 130.”
Becca’s official diagnosis was Philadelphia Positive B Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. According to the Cleveland Clinic, this type of cancer affects the B cells that make antibodies and fight infection. It is the most common form of leukemia, accounting for 85% of childhood cases and 75% to 80% of adult cases.
The day after her diagnosis, Becca was admitted to University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital—a choice she said saved her life.
Fighting for Her Life
Becca had gone to the emergency room on a Friday with immobilizing pain in her neck. By the following Monday, she had a port placed to begin chemotherapy.
“I wouldn’t wish it upon even my worst enemy,” Becca said of the treatment. “It’s miserable to go through; the side effects are terrible.”
Becca endured eight months of intravenous chemotherapy sessions, followed by another year and a half of oral chemotherapy. Some of the more intense treatments required hospitalization, while others were outpatient procedures. It was grueling, but it was working. Becca’s bone marrow aspirations and lumbar punctures came back with no evidence of disease, meaning in all the cells her doctors checked, none of them had cancer.
In July 2022, she rang the bell, symbolizing the end of her treatment, and left the hospital.
Three days later, she was back.
“I felt down and exhausted, and I knew something wasn’t right,” she said.
Becca had relapsed. The cancer had come back while she was taking the oral treatment but was being masked by the treatment itself. When she stopped the medication, the cancer multiplied quickly.
“That was awful mentally and emotionally,” she said. “Looking back now, though, I’m glad it happened when it did. I can’t imagine going back to work, returning to my normal life, and then having to do it all over again.”
Becca began five rounds of a trial-based immunotherapy.
“I did really well with the immunotherapy. I felt good—I didn’t feel like I did during chemo,” she said.
The treatment worked. Becca has several more months of oral medication to complete, but she is reclaiming the life and career she had been building.
Becoming a Nurse at LCCC
Becca always wanted to be a nurse.
“As far back as preschool, when you trace your body on a big piece of paper and draw who you want to be when you grow up, it’s always been a nurse,” she said.
After graduating from Midview High School, Becca’s parents presented her with two paths to becoming a registered nurse. One option was moving away to attend a four-year university. The other was accepting the Presidential Scholarship she had earned and attending Lorain County Community College. One path included higher tuition, on-campus housing, and student loan debt. The other did not.
“The difference was insane,” she said. “I was going to end up as a registered nurse either way. It was a no-brainer to enroll at LCCC.”
Choosing LCCC was easy; completing the program was not. LCCC’s associate degree in nursing program is among the most effective at preparing new nurses. Graduates are highly regarded throughout Northeast Ohio and are employed at hospitals, long-term care facilities, and a variety of other health care settings.
Becca said the rigor of the program reflects the responsibility nurses carry.
“Nursing school is so different from any schooling I’ve ever been through,” she said. “The tests make you think outside the box. There aren’t any black-and-white answers. You have to take what you’ve learned and apply it to real scenarios.”
The expectation, she said, is that graduates can do that every time.
“It’s a high expectation, but it needs to be,” she said. “You’re caring for other people’s lives.”
Letting the Sunshine In
Becca completed immunotherapy in April 2023 and returned to the cardiac telemetry and observation unit at University Hospitals that June. Since then, Becca has stepped into the role of nurse preceptor, mentoring, teaching and evaluating nursing students during their clinical rotations. She said she can often spot a fellow LCCC nursing student immediately.
“I can tell the difference,” she said. “LCCC students are much more prepared. They’re more involved in their clinical work and ready for the real world.”
Beyond technical nursing skills, Becca emphasizes communication and empathy. Despite the fast-paced, post-pandemic environment, she makes time to listen fully to her patients because she knows how much that matters.
“I want to learn about their lives and hear their stories,” she said. “When patients feel heard, they’re more at ease and more comfortable. They feel less alone.”
Helping patients feel less alone has become central to Becca’s purpose. Fighting disease can be isolating, and Becca knows how critical both internal strength and external support can be.
“My diagnosis happened during COVID, when adult patients weren’t allowed visitors,” she said. “But because I was treated in the pediatric system, I was allowed two visitors at all times. If I hadn’t been able to have them there, I wouldn’t have made it through.”
In addition to her family’s support, small acts of kindness from hospital staff made a lasting impact.
“From pet pals that come visit, to the little things staff do—it all means the world,” she said.
Many of those “little things” are funded through local nonprofits—an impact that inspired Becca to start her own. Launched this year, Becca’s Sunshine Project raises money through an annual golf outing to help reduce the financial burden on families with children and young adults undergoing cancer treatment. Funds go directly to families or toward uplifting items donated to hospitals.
“If we can ease a family’s burden even a little bit, or bring smiles during something unimaginable, then it’s doing exactly what I hoped,” Becca said. “We just want to bring a little sunshine into people’s darkest days.”
Becca hopes to expand the nonprofit in the future. But for now, she is focused on taking it one day at a time.
“I’ve learned to live life to the fullest,” she said. “Take the class. Go on the trip. Buy the thing you’ve been wanting. Tomorrow is never promised.”
