CSN radiation therapy alumnus helps battle cancer
At Nevada Cancer Institute, Joseph Dayvie, 23, is a warrior against cancer. Day after day, the 23-year-old radiation therapist and College of Southern Nevada alumnus works with doctors to plan attacks on cancer and administers radiation to precisely zap and kill cancer cell clusters.
In what is arguably one of the toughest job markets, Dayvie was hired at Nevada Cancer Institute after graduating in May 2011. Although the institute’s future at the time was uncertain, Dayvie counted himself as one of the most fortunate graduates in his class.
He had spent the last four years of his life dedicated to learning the field at CSN, which boasts the only radiation therapy program in the state. He also completed a 12-week intensive internship at Nevada Cancer Institute, as part of an innovative partnership between the community college and the research and treatment center.
Approximately 70 percent of cancers are treated in some form with radiation therapy, the practice of focusing high-energy radiation on localized tumors. Dayvie sees as many as 50 patients a day and treats each anywhere from three weeks to three months, depending on the program.
He gets to know each one well.
“I enjoy being with patients every day,” he said. “It’s not easy for them to go in and deal with what they have to deal with.”
Dayvie would know. During his second semester in the radiation therapy program at CSN, his mother was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer, which is frequently treated with radiation therapy.
“Lectures were very hard for him when we started discussing some of this stuff,” Radiation Therapy Program Director Jim Godin recalled. “But Joe never missed a class.”
Dayvie said Godin put his heart and soul into the program and really pushed his students to persevere. His mother’s condition was one of many reasons he felt compelled to push himself academically and professionally at CSN.
But mostly, Dayvie was glad that what he was learning at CSN could help his mother.
“A positive aspect was that I was able to talk with my mother about her treatments while I was going through school,” Dayvie said. “She would be confused and concerned with certain aspects and I would be able to explain it to her. So it was good to help her be comfortable.”
He is proud of the experiences that led him to his job at Nevada Cancer Institute, which entered into an agreement in December with the world-renowned University of California, San Diego Health System, and knows he has found his calling. Patients tend to tell him that as well.
“You can’t just go into this field because you don’t know what you want to do,” Dayvie said. “It’s one of those professions where you have to push yourself. You have to love it.”