Dr. Kimberly Stewart remembers her first hospital visit as an unfortunate event turned into a positive experience that would have a lasting impact and that would influence her decision to assist others.

She was about 5 years old when she took a tumble off a see-saw and fractured her arm. Just before surgery she saw another child eating a popsicle and asked for one. She was promised that just after surgery she could have her own. Staff, of course, made good on their promise and even threw in a pretty stuffed kitty to boot.

Somewhere, tucked away with that memory, Stewart still has that cat. But even more importantly she has a mission to help and treat others with the same warmth and kindness that she received during her hospital stay.

Stewart, a 41-year-old radiation oncologist with CHRISTUS Spohn Cancer Center, often sees patients at some of the most lowest points of their lives. They either have just learned they have cancer or are undergoing grueling treatment.

"The greatest challenge of my job is trying to make a positive impact on a person's life during a very stressful situation," the oncologist said. "I'm dealing with patients who have just been diagnosed with the ‘big C.' By the time they see me they should have talked to at least two doctors who have explained what is going on ... but it is so overwhelming it is hard for them to grasp what is going on. I try to talk with them like we are all sitting around the kitchen table having a conversation."

Colleague and LVN Belinda Sanchez said Stewart’s soft-spoken manner puts patients at ease. "I have had many people tell me that they realize she has other patients, but when she is with them they feel as they are the only ones," she said.

Stewart sees between 25 to 30 patients a day, not including those who show up announced or call with questions. Sanchez said she has seen Stewart make herself available to all of them. "But when she closes the door to the exam room her complete focus is on the patient in front of her," she said.

Stewart, who grew up in the small rural town of Bourbonnais, Ill., 60 miles south of Chicago, planned on working in physical rehabilitation but changed her mind just as she was set to begin her residency. Her mother, a registered nurse who longed for the opportunity to be a doctor, supported Stewart's decision to be a physician.

Stewart’s grandfather, a minister, was not supportive of the idea of his daughter going to a state college far from home. Stewart said she knew she was following a dream her mother had long harbored, but the then young graduate student questioned if medicine was what she was supposed to pursue.

"I took a leave of absence to try to figure out what God had in store for me," she said. "That's when I discovered radiation oncology."

Stewart had sat in on a lecture about the subject in college at Olivet Nazzarine University in Kankakee, Ill., but there were no detailed introductions to the practice. She heard about a local Michigan hospital that had a program and was curious to learn more. She spent a few weeks shadowing doctors and before it was over was invited to be a part of their residency program.

"God opens and closes doors," she said, shaking her head and smiling. "It was a blessing."

With the support of her husband, who would now have to cover living expenses alone and agree to put off starting a family, Stewart accepted the invitation for residency at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich.

Stewart finally felt as though she was following the path which God intended for her and began her practice in 2003. In 2004 Stewart moved to Corpus Christi. What she appreciated about the city is that it was not too unlike her hometown, where people are nice and grounded in their faith. But really it's the patients who have kept her here.

"Patients minister to me and touch my heart in ways they probably don't even realize," Stewart said. "This job is rewarding and heart wrenching at times, but you make special bonds that you will never be able to replace."

Five years ago Stewart lost her father to cancer. Taking the journey through cancer treatment as a family member has made a difference in the way she approaches treatment, said Sanchez. "She is able to put the family at ease and then they are able to take care of (their loved one)," she said.

Shirley McCullough of Aransas Pass, who recently completed her first round of radiation therapy, said Stewart treated her family just as well as she treated her.

"She was always warm and honest," McCullough said. "And she took time to talk to them."

Time is something McCullough values. She opted not to return to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for treatment because doctors there were too busy, she said. Stewart and the bedside manner in which she cares for her patients helped her make that decision.

"She always kept a good close eye on me," McCullough said. "She is wonderful."

Although Stewart is a petite woman with delicate features, who looks as though the slightest of winds might ferry her away, her strong and powerful spirit, not to mention her heart of gold, dominates an entire room.