Axel Durr is like many other 8-year-old boys. He loves riding e-bikes and go-karts. He likes Nerf guns and building Legos. He goes fishing with his parents, plays outside, and fuels his passion for dinosaurs by visiting museums and pop-up exhibits.
And when Axel visits CommonSpirit Mercy Hospital in Durango, Colorado, to get “pokies,” he can focus on the prize box filled with toys specially curated for him afterward, rather than on the shots and other treatments he receives for his leukemia diagnosis.
That’s one of the countless ways Mercy’s Pediatric Hematology & Oncology goes well above the call of duty to serve pediatric patients facing cancer, bleeding disorders, and other diseases.
Mercy Hospital is part of the CommonSpirit Mountain Region’s network of hospitals in Colorado, Kansas, and Utah. While its oncology department was first created to serve primarily adult patients, it expanded to include pediatric patients in the surrounding mountain communities. The department allows families to stay close to home to get treatment, rather than traveling back and forth to major hospitals in Denver or Albuquerque.
“Being able to be close in Durango made things tolerable for us,” said Brandi Durr, Axel’s mother. “Just even knowing the piece of being able to go get our treatment and come back home and sleep in our own beds and be with our dogs.”
The department is built around a close partnership between Dr. Jesse Hutt and nurse Etoile Hening, who pursued additional specialized training at Children’s Hospital Colorado to become certified in pediatric hematology-oncology nursing.
“As soon as they’d come in, he'd light them up and shoot them with the Nerf guns,” said Brandi Durr, adding that Axel also developed a strong relationship with Dr. Hutt’s dog, Cody. “He actually probably wouldn't even care about the toy as long as he got to go and pet Cody.”
The Reality of the “Rural Tax” on Families
When Axel started showing signs of illness in the fall of 2021, his parents took him to a local pediatrician. Within a few hours, he and his mom were on a Flight for Life plane from their home in Durango to the Children’s Hospital in Aurora. His father made the six-and-a-half-hour drive overnight to get there by morning.
The family then spent what Brandi Durr described as one of the most “overwhelming and stressful” five weeks of their lives in Aurora, renting a home nearby and far away from their puppy, cats, and other animals at home while Axel fought for his life.
“He did reach remission, which was great, and it was such a positive sign for him to reach remission so quickly after being diagnosed,” Brandi Durr said.
But that was just the beginning of their fight. Axel was placed on a 10-day protocol that involved trips back and forth between Durango and Aurora to receive chemotherapy treatments right at the start of winter, which made travel extraordinarily difficult. With the help of private pilots through organizations like Angel Wings, Axel received the treatment he needed.
The Durrs' experience is standard for rural Colorado families whose children receive a cancer diagnosis.
“For working families with other children, the necessity of traveling over two mountain passes to Denver is expensive, inconvenient, and physically draining,” Brandi Durr said.
However, thanks to the oncology staff at Mercy Hospital, these families can stay in their homes while receiving life-saving treatments close by.
The Architecture of Trust at Mercy Hospital
When Oscar “Ozzie” Goldman first met Dr. Hutt and Nurse Hening, he was still in diapers and just two years old.
Over the next 12 years, Dr. Hutt treated Ozzie while he fought through numerous diseases, including two types of cancer: rhabdomyosarcoma — a rare type of cancer that forms in the muscles that are attached to bones — and low-grade gliomas, a slow-growing brain tumor.
“When [Dr. Hutt] treated him when he was 14, he was cracking jokes as an ornery teenager to her,” said Ozzie’s mother, Robin Goldman. “I vividly remember her repeatedly saying, ‘Ozzie – you’re making me blush!’”
Ozzie, a baseball star and avid runner who was always happy, brave, and positive, found comfort in Dr. Hutt and Hening’s warm approach to treatments.
“I come into the exam room as approachable as possible and have a genuine curiosity to get to know the patients and families,” Dr. Hutt said. “My role is to not only administer treatments, but to advocate and help patients get what they need.”
Dr. Hutt’s philosophy is rooted in education, demystifying terrifying diagnoses for families in a rural setting, and her own experience with cancer.
“My experience as a cancer survivor allows me to connect with patients because I truly understand their journey,” Dr. Hutt said. “I see my role as offering compassionate support during difficult times and sharing in their joyful relief when treatment is complete.”
Robin Goldman said Dr. Hutt and her staff never saw Ozzie as just a patient, but rather a person there to learn and understand what was happening every step of the way.
“They always provided consistent care and seemed to respect both myself and Ozzie and the roles we played in his care,” Robin Goldman said.
The Best Medicine: Compassionate and Consistent
Ten-year-old Hope Whitt first received a diagnosis of immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) — an illness that can lead to bruising and bleeding — following a whirlwind experience that included a Flight for Life trip to the Children’s Hospital in September of 2024.
Soon after, her mother contacted Dr. Hutt.
“When I called the Oncology Department and told them our situation, I wasn’t sure how things would go,” Mary Whitt said. “Dr. Hutt called me on her own time and discussed some things, and said she would see Hope. This action alone made me feel so much relief in that she cared enough to talk to us.”
For Mary, having providers who saw Hope for who she is — a caring, empathetic girl who is an avid reader and loves animals, the arts, and dance classes — made all the difference in her care.
Dr. Hutt noted that Nurse Hening is a vital part of this connection.
“Her clinical skill, intuition, and gentle presence make an enormous difference for these children and families,” Dr. Hutt said. “She gets to know each child deeply and adapts her approach to meet them where they are — something that is hard to teach and incredibly special.”
Dr. Hutt also ensures that Hope feels “heard and seen,” always including her in the conversation and taking her feelings and comfort into account.
“I spend a lot of time educating families about the diagnosis, the services we can offer in a rural setting, and ultimately, that builds a lot of trust,” added Dr. Hutt.
Having care close to home also removes families’ burden of “retelling their stories,” Mary Whitt said, ensuring families like the Durrs, Goldmans, and Whitts have the space to focus on treatments and getting better through consistency and familiarity.
“It was really beneficial for [Axel] because he went to the same room every time and he saw the same doctor and the same nurse every time,” Brandi Durr said. “Even just those little things really matter to him.”
Consistency and routine are vital to giving children a sense of stability and safety when they’re faced with the uncertainty of cancer or other diseases.
“There’s a feeling of comfort with knowing what is expected when you go to the doctor, and not having to retell your story to another doctor and nurse,” Dr. Hutt said.
So Much More Than a Hospital
When a surgery at another hospital failed to remove Ozzie’s entire brain tumor, he was ultimately told it was terminal.
A few days later, several Mercy Hospital employees showed up to cheer him on during his last baseball game. A Flight for Life helicopter also flew over the game while Ozzie hit his last home run.
“It was beautiful,” Robin Goldman said.
Ozzie passed away in his home at age 14, on May 7, 2025, retaining his “glass half full” attitude right up until the end.
Goldman credits the staff at Mercy Hospital and all his medical teams with giving him and his family as much time as they could get.
“We developed many great relationships with the folks at Mercy,” Robin Goldman said, adding that her church group even went to the hospital in December to sing Christmas carols. “I had been in tears throughout the singing because of being at the hospital without Ozzie when I ran into one of the nurses who cared for him often in the TCU. She just hugged me and let me cry on her shoulder.”
Dr. Hutt said while pediatric cancer cure rates currently exceed 85% at the five-year survival mark, she and the Mercy Hospital staff share in the grief of families who experience loss.
“From every child, we learn something unique — their courage, wisdom, and remarkable ability to live fully in the moment is a constant source of inspiration,” she said.
For Hope, Axel, and other pediatric patients in and near Durango, Dr. Hutt and Nurse Hening continue to make oncology treatment close to home possible.
“Axel really is full force ahead,” Brandi Durr said. “He doesn't like to look back. He's just like, ‘I'm a little boy, and this is what I got going on in my world.’”
“Dr. Hutt and her care team are helping us to navigate through the ups and downs that ITP is,” Mary Whitt added. “I feel like Dr. Hutt is a friend. We have worked together through the hardest thing I have ever gone through, and because of her compassion and care, it has made us feel less alone in this journey.”
Dr. Hutt said her greatest hope is that families needing cancer and rare disease treatments in the pediatric oncology department at CommonSpirit’s Mercy Hospital feel confident entrusting their child to them.
“It is a privilege to support children through the challenges of treatment, knowing they will ultimately move forward to become happy, productive adults,” Dr. Hutt said. “We are inspired by the life successes of former patients who are now starting their own families and sharing their milestones.”
