(NewsNation) — After a life-altering diagnosis, one accountant decided her life wasn’t adding up anymore.

In 2015, Denise Johnson bravely battled breast cancer. Her illness allowed her time to reevaluate her purpose in life.

It wasn’t until her brother was diagnosed with prostate cancer and her sister was also diagnosed with breast cancer that she had an epiphany and a career change — leaving accounting behind and entering the field of nursing.

“Before I got cancer, I had been working two full-time jobs — had been in a lot of prayer about how to find some balance in my life,” Johnson recalled. “I know a lot of women have that struggle and just the forced time to sit and think and not be able to work allowed me to really think about what I was doing with my life.”

Johnson now helps cancer patients as an oncology nurse. She’s only been a nurse for 11 months, but her advice to anyone struggling with finding the courage to try something different is, “You can do it.”

“I had a patient the other day sitting there saying, ‘Wow, that was really great that you became a nurse; you must have done this for a long time.’ I said, ‘No, it’s recent for me.’ And she’s like, wow, I couldn’t do that. I said absolutely. You can do that. Just put your mind to it; because you can do anything you want.”

Watch the full video in the media player above.