Despite cancer, top call taker thrives

A rare form of cancer hasn’t stopped Nicholas Stepaniak from becoming one of the country’s top emergency call takers.

Stephaniak was honored late last month in Texas as the top public-safety communications trainer in the nation. Working from Stafford County’s Public Safety Communications Center, when he takes a call about a house fire, car crash, theft or robbery, the person making that call is probably having one of the worst days of their lives.

And though Stepaniak’s own life hasn’t necessarily been easy, he handles each call one situation at a time, hardly ever thinking about his own, coworkers say.

“I rather not be at home thinking about all of the bad things that can happen to me. I’d rather be at work and doing something instead of just sitting around,” said Stepaniak.

Stepaniak, 29, in 2005 was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma – a rare form of cancer that can invade bone and soft-tissue. It has entered his lungs, and his doctors told him there is no cure.

But it hasn’t slowed him down.

In between going to 165 hours of chemotherapy treatments twice a week at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, and getting a knee replacement, he got married in 2008 and later developed Stafford County’s first public safety call center academy.

There he teaches 24 to 28 courses to newly hired call takers, teaching them all of the basics about determining what type of emergency a caller is having and how to get them the help they need.

“First we have to know what the nature of the call is and he shows from start to finish, from the time the call comes in, so we can get someone out to help that person. He relates to us and how we learn best,” said Katelyn Hose, a student in Stepaniak’s class.

New students begin using flash cards with information about how to handle sheriff’s department calls and emergency medical calls during the first few weeks of training. Then they move on to more “hands on” training, putting what they’ve learned to the test on the phones.

Stepaniak’s patience has also been tested not only by cancer, but with a serious car crash  last year, the day after Christmas.

He was traveling to work when he was struck by a drunken driver on Va. 218 in Falmouth. He had planned to drop off some CPR manuals at work that day, but instead was hospitalized after the crash.

“We got the 911 call and then we immediately went to the hospital. We were so shocked to see Nick and his wife, Brandy, were so calm. I think we were more upset then they were,” said Stafford County Public Safety Communications operations manager Karen Hileman.

Stepaniak suffered a broken foot and bruises from both of the airbags that deployed, but soon returned to work to help others with their emergencies.

Following the crash, he also received some more good news: his cancer is in remission, which meant he no longer had to chemotherapy twice a week.

That allowed him more time to develop his training classes.

Stepaniak received his award two weeks ago, from the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials.

Hileman, who filled four pages front to back describing Stepaniak’s strong-willed character, can’t seem to praise him enough for his accomplishments in the face of adversity.

Stepaniak was more subtle about his award.

“I just do my job. I’m happy to have been nominated,” said Stepaniak.