The Nurse Who Turned Her Near-Death Experience Into a Medical Thriller - Exclusive Interview with Jenny White
- Jul 16
- 7 min read
Brainz Magazine Exclusive Interview
Jenny White is a retired Registered Nurse living in Southwestern Ontario. She spent over 30 years working in various settings, including hospitals — ICUs, trauma units, surgical floors — as well as Public Health and long-term care homes (nursing homes). She has vast experience in these settings, working as staff and finishing her career as a Director of Care, managing large nursing departments, as well as a Director of Nursing Services for a for-profit organization overseeing seven of their long-term care homes. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master's degree in Healthcare Administration.
After retiring, she discovered that she had a brain tumor wrapped around the carotid artery in her brain, which was life-threatening and required specialized surgery. After her extensive surgery, she was comatose for days, and when she awoke, she found herself tied to the bed, as she had become a disoriented patient, attempting to remove all of the medical tools keeping her alive. Her memories were gone, she did not recognize her husband at the bedside, and she had to relearn how to walk and talk. Over the next year, Jenny had to reinvent herself. Her old hobbies and interests were gone, and she felt vulnerable and lost. That was the turning point: she decided she was interested in writing her story.
As she learned the craft of writing by taking online courses during her rehabilitation, a spark was ignited, and she began to write. Her returning memories are slow but are impacted by writing, slowly re-emerging from the past. Her experience is vast, and she has many stories to tell. She now writes medical thrillers. In her debut novel, "The Triggering Scent" (book 1 of a series), Jenny took her experience and returning memories and created a character of a nurse working in an ICU.
The story: a nurse returning to work in the ICU realizes that she now struggles with her memory and questions her skills. She realizes that the meth-addicted neurosurgeon who ruined her life is now working in her facility, and she must stop him from hurting others, even if it means risking her own license to do so. The Triggering Scent is now published and available on over 40 platforms.
After spending more than three decades as a registered nurse before becoming a bestselling author and keynote speaker, what experiences from the healthcare world have stayed with you the most?
Here are the top 3:
The Challenges: Each medical environment is unique in terms of flow, logistics and expertise needed, which means lifelong learning, a willingness to accept change, and the ability to pivot depending on circumstances. We need to challenge the status quo and figure out better ways to function.
Managing expectations: Patients, families and administrators all have agendas when they enter the healthcare system. Patients and families want immediate high-quality care with access to the right staff, at the right time, in order to deal with their concerns and issues, but as patients have varying degrees of severity with their issues, critical patients are seen first, often leaving others with long wait times. Administrators, meanwhile, have tight budgets, good patient experiences and more that is downloaded onto staff, causing stress, anxiety, short staffing and other issues that affect patient care.
Lack of resources: There is a shortage of nurses worldwide, and nurses are leaving the industry in droves because of understaffing, burnout, mandatory overtime and more.
Your own journey from caregiver to patient after surviving a life-threatening brain tumor completely changed the course of your life. Looking back, what did that experience teach you about resilience that you could never have learned any other way?
To be grateful to be alive—life means hope, and hope means opportunities. It taught me to reframe the outcome of the surgery into something positive: a new beginning, new choices, an opportunity to focus on myself, which is why I chose to become an author. It taught me to grieve, but only for a short time—to acknowledge the new normal and proceed. It taught me that resilience is possible: mindset and being positive are everything, though it doesn't happen overnight. It takes time, effort and constant attention, and taking baby steps every day towards your dream is the key.
"Life means hope. Hope means opportunities."
What truths about hospitals, medicine, and the people behind the scenes do you hope readers discover through your fiction?
That what you don't see can be harmful. That staff are humans, with good days and bad days, and that can affect the care you receive—staff may have health conditions or addictions, for example, that affect care. Those restrictions on staffing mean longer wait times and perhaps less interaction. That funding formulas and tight budgets may mean fewer supplies, fewer tests, and more frustration for everyone. That superbugs are the norm, since all bacteria and viruses have the ability to mutate and attack, and drugs, tests, and knowledge are key to avoiding more pandemics. And that hospitals have challenges, and things sometimes happen—errors, delays, choices, policies and so on can all affect outcomes. I try to weave real challenges in healthcare into the fiction series to raise questions, challenge assumptions and move the discussion forward, with the aim of improving conditions, policies and staffing.
What's the difference between surviving something difficult and truly rebuilding your identity afterward?
I'm not sure there is a difference, really. I overcame two major obstacles first: relearning how to walk and speak. Those were priorities and they came first—that was my goal of surviving, and they were important to me, and to my family. Then came the possibility of something different. As I was resting, I allowed myself to dream. I did grieve the loss of memories, but I was more engaged with trying to find something going forward that I could do that would bring me joy, but also purpose. I knew I had a clean slate—new choices—and I put myself first. As part of the speech recovery, I realized I could write, write words that made sense.
That gave me a window to communicate, but it also started to help rewire my brain. I allowed myself to dream: what do I really want? Although I had never dreamt of being an author, I thought, why not? Try. If it doesn't work, I'll try something else. Once I started writing, I had self-esteem. I felt valued. I felt accomplished. That created a snowball effect that has continued. I also made a conscious choice to move forward, not back—to get out of my wheelhouse, challenge myself, and have fun.
Based on both your professional and personal experiences, what do you believe the healthcare industry still gets wrong about supporting its own people?
Staff needs to be heard by the people who make the policies and decisions, both in terms of policy development and best practices and strategies—the people doing the work know what will be efficient and effective, so ask them, hear them. Huge bonuses for CEOs and executives need to be rerouted to the people doing the actual care, in resources and in salaries. Working short-staffed, with on-demand overtime, is downright exhausting and cruel—over-tired, overworked staff will often make mistakes, some of which are life-threatening, and it also takes them away from their families, which is distressing and stressful. Staff should be treated respectfully, violence in the workplace should be stopped, and workers should be supported in lifelong learning, stress management, mental health and healthy living.
As AI continues to transform healthcare and even creative writing, where do you believe human empathy, intuition, and lived experience will always remain irreplaceable?
I don't believe that nurses are replaceable: they are the eyes, ears, advocates and professionals that every patient needs and wants. No machinery is perfect—it is only as good as the information it is programmed with, and it does not have the ability to think critically; it only works on algorithms. Nurses are highly trained, intuitive and instinctive as they practice. Miracles happen, and much of healthcare is around mindset—those who are positive tend to thrive, while those who give up always die. Nurses help guide patients through the emotional terror and trauma of health issues. Lived experience is key; it provides an element that cannot be replicated, and it shapes a journey and its outcomes.
Have you found that storytelling can sometimes reach people in ways that medical advice or clinical conversations simply cannot?
The short answer is yes. Reading a story can raise issues that sometimes we don't want to acknowledge or understand. It can frame a situation, deal with a worst-case scenario, and raise issues that could conceivably occur but that you hope don't happen in real life—things like drug-addicted surgeons, who you hope are not practicing, but who in reality could be, and the outcomes of such a situation. One of the goals is to weave real-life situations into the books to raise eyebrows and engaging questions: could that happen? What if it did? How should it be fixed?
"You have more power than you think you do—you are in charge, not society's expectations."
If there's one message you hope readers take away from your books and keynote speeches, what do you hope continues to stay with them after they've finished listening or reading?
A message of hope: that reinvention is in the hands of the patient, the person. You have more power than you think you do—you are in charge, not society's expectations. A positive mindset is key; look for opportunities and they will find you. Be grateful for what you have, who you are, and what is possible. Have the ability to imagine a life worth living, a specific vision of what you want, which can include a vision board, a plan, baby steps, and goals. Healthcare is a minefield, and sometimes bad things have to be exposed before change is possible. One person can start the ball rolling, towards a different perspective, different priorities, challenges within the system, and the start of change. The status quo needs to be challenged—for example, the idea that a 64-year-old woman should settle, be content and wind down, versus the possibility of a second life that brings joy, challenge and serves others.
Jenny White's journey from registered nurse to brain tumor survivor, bestselling author, and keynote speaker is a powerful reminder that resilience is built one step at a time. Drawing from both professional expertise and deeply personal experience, she challenges readers to rethink healthcare, embrace change, and recognize that hope, purpose, and reinvention remain possible at every stage of life. Through her writing and speaking, White continues to inspire meaningful conversations about compassion, resilience, and the courage to create a new beginning.
For more information and updates, connect with Jenny here:
