Shared Inheritance

Christie Cabrera is a clinical nurse lead for general surgery at Phoenix Children’s. Her days can be long—and busy: working closely with surgeons to make sure they have everything they need before they walk into the operating room; acting as the go-to liaison for every member of a surgery team; prepping operating rooms to ensure safe procedures for the hospital’s young patients; and orienting new nurses to the ins and outs of the job.

She loves what she does and can’t imagine doing anything else. And Christie comes by it naturally. She’s one of nearly a dozen nurses in her family, from her mother to her aunts and cousins, even a great-great-ancestor who served as a military medic in the 1890s.

“Caregiving has always been part of our family dynamic,” Christie says. “It wasn’t like there was instruction on how to do it; it’s just something I grew up with and understand.”

Even though Christie was born and raised in the East Valley, her family hails from the Philippines. That’s where Christie’s grandmother called home, raising five children there: four girls and one boy.

All four daughters went on to become nurses. It started with Christie’s mom, Esther, the second oldest of the siblings. She attended a U.S.-curriculum-based nursing school in the Philippines, then accepted hospital sponsorships to work abroad. Esther joined nursing staffs in Florida and Texas, encouraging her sisters to follow suit; one of Christie’s aunts worked in Saudi Arabia before she, too, moved to the United States. But according to Christie, while Esther was the first caregiver of her generation, she wasn’t the first in the lineage.

“My great-great-grandfather was born in New York,” Christie says. “He served as a Buffalo Soldier and a medic in the U.S. Army—in Arizona, actually.”

It was when Christie’s grandmother moved to the United States that Christie experienced caregiving firsthand. Her grandmother lived with Christie—an only child—and Christie’s parents throughout Christie’s childhood. Because she was diabetic, her grandmother required help with blood-sugar checks, and young Christie jumped at the chance to assist her mom in looking after her grandmother.

Still, Christie’s own path to the healthcare profession was not yet fully forged. She enjoyed a successful 12-year career as a speech therapist at an East Valley school when, in 2010, life changed.

Her grandmother became sick and was hospitalized. Christie found the way doctors explained her grandmother’s condition to be confusing, a tangled web of medical jargon delivered without clarity—or even compassion. She felt helpless to advocate on behalf of her beloved grandmother. It was then that she decided—like her relatives and ancestors before her—to become a nurse.

“I wanted to have the power to take care of my family and understand what’s going on with them medically, and to make sure other families feel that way too,” Christie says.

And now, 16 years after that pivotal moment at her grandmother’s hospital bedside, that’s exactly what Christie does. She joined the Phoenix Children’s team in 2018, pursuing her mission to help deliver the best care possible to patients—and help their families feel supported throughout the process.

Though she and her husband don’t have children of their own, Christie believes her family’s legacy lives on through the teaching and mentorship she offers new nurses, training the next generation of caregivers.

She also knows that legacy has to start somewhere.

“I hope when people hear my family’s story, it inspires them to start their own legacy,” Christie says. “Maybe you’re the first to go to college. Maybe you’re the first to volunteer time or money. Maybe you’re the first to go into nursing. That can be your story. You can be the light to ignite your own legacy.”

At Phoenix Children’s, that legacy continues every time Christie mentors a new nurse. By preparing the next generation of caregivers, she’s helping ensure future patients receive the same compassion that inspired her own journey.