From Patient to Caregiver: Meet Jon Bell '04
When Jon Bell ’04 started at Royal St. George’s College in Grade 4, he had no hair. It wasn’t a fashion statement – he was battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), otherwise known as cancer of the white blood cells.
Showing remarkable resilience, Jon took it all in stride and accepted that his life went from kicking soccer balls and playing hockey to chemotherapy treatment at SickKids hospital.
“As a kid, you don’t really understand the impact of it,” said Jon, who specifically remembers that when he was a New Boy at RSGC, no one teased him for his lack of hair. “Dealing with it sort of just ‘is’ and as a kid going through it, that just becomes routine. It’s more your parents who go through the worst part of it. You’re the one who is physically sick, but you don’t deal with the things that an adult would.”
Jon’s father, Bob, is grateful that the school provided such a caring environment for his son during such a trying and scary time for his family.
“It’s always scary as hell – even more so when you understand what it’s all about,” said Bob, an orthopedic surgeon who was appointed Ontario’s Deputy Minister of Health and Long-Term Care in 2014. “Thank God he was a really strong and brave little guy who managed to keep his spirit. He was always playing sports and liked hockey and soccer. Singing too! But all of a sudden, his whole life came to a crashing halt and his life became SickKids.”
It was Jon’s stepmother, Diann, a developmental pediatrician, who recognized the signs that led to the early diagnosis. According to Jon, she was “the fundamental piece of managing school and the cancer.” She would wait in the RSGC library while Jon was in class and pick him up at lunchtime. Then she would take him to his appointments and help him do his homework. Teachers brought homework to his house.
“My stepmother is a huge, huge superstar. She was instrumental in helping me get through this stuff,” said Jon. “How well my parents rose to the occasion has to be commended.”
His parents inspired Jon to follow their footsteps into the medical field. After he graduated from RSGC in 2004, he went to McGill University in Montreal to study nursing. His first job was, remarkably, at SickKids hospital. Now, he works in the emergency department at Brampton Civic Hospital, where he focuses on pediatrics. He sees up to 150 patients a day.
Jon says his illness had nothing to do with wanting to go into the medical field. He credits his parents – his father, in particular – for the inspiration.
“In Grade 12, I was flirting with the idea of going into kinesiology or physiotherapy. It was my dad who suggested that nursing would be a huge career in the future,” said Jon. “I also talked to him about sports therapy, but he said the scope of practice is very narrow and that nursing is very broad. His advice made me go for it.”
Bob is thrilled that his son took his advice and went into nursing, but he does think that having cancer at a young age may have also had an impact on his career choice.
“Based on his early experience with illness himself, he was interested in being a care provider,” said Bob. “I could see the scope of practice getting bigger for nurses, so I thought it would make sense for him. He sees kids, assesses them and then starts protocols. It’s a very satisfying career.”
But despite constantly being surrounded by sick children, Jon still doesn’t see the link with his past.
“Quite honestly, I don’t think of a connection with having had cancer and being a nurse,” said Jon. “I think the person I am, not the cancer, is what makes me a good nurse.”
Adrian Thornbury ’87 coached Jon in many sports during his years at RSGC and isn’t even remotely surprised at how Jon has chosen to make a living.
“I think it speaks to how passionate and compassionate a person he is,” said Adrian, who remembers Jon as one of those guys you always wanted to have more of on your team. “It’s not at all surprising that he’s in an arena of helping people. He was always the guy who just picked things up and got stuff done. He wasn’t very ‘rah rah’, but when you heard from him, people listened.”
It certainly doesn’t faze Jon that he works in what has traditionally been seen as a female profession.
“In my department, we are maybe seven guys out of about 100 nurses,” said Jon, who says that the number of male nurses is growing. “I’m just happy to have a full time job!”
Bob is glad that his son ended up in a rewarding field.
“Gender bias in healthcare is changing and is largely a thing of the past,” he said. “It used to be that there weren’t many doctors who were women! His job is endlessly stimulating.”
But perhaps the best part about Jon’s job is that his hours allow him to spend mornings with his wife of six years, Hailey, and their two young children, Zoey, four, and Rhys, two.
“I spend as much time as I can with them – it makes me happy,” said Jon.
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Royal St. George's College is an independent school for boys located in The Annex neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The school admits boys from Grades 3 through 12. Our mission is to challenge and inspire each of our students to become the best version of himself.