Paying it Back

From Patient to Caregiver: How Charli Roberts’ Battle with Cancer Inspired Her Career in Ultrasound

Charli Roberts learned her profession as an ultrasound technician earlier than most—and not because she took concurrent credit in high school. Roberts spent much of her early life undergoing ultrasounds as she battled various health conditions, and the care she received from her technicians over the years ultimately inspired her career.

But first, there was the matter of defeating cancer, a discovery made at age three while being treated for what doctors initially thought was a mere birth defect.

“I was born with my legs two different sizes, and at six months, I ended up going to Shriners Hospital in St. Louis,” she said. “I went in for a routine ultrasound, and they found two tumors. It turned out that the leg condition I was born with, Hemi hypertrophy, is actually connected to Wilms tumor kidney cancer. I stayed in the hospital for a long time, went through chemotherapy, and had the tumors removed.”

Roberts beat cancer, but she was required to have follow-up ultrasounds until her teen years to ensure no additional tumors formed. Starting in fourth grade, doctors began a series of surgeries to fix the two-and-a-half-inch difference in her legs' lengths.

“Finally, they got it right,” she said with a laugh. “In seventh grade, they broke my femur, removed the difference, and put in a bunch of hardware. Then, the following year, they went in and took all the hardware out.”

Anyone who knows Roberts knows her indomitable spirit, something she cultivated on the basketball court. Even before her legs were corrected, she played with specially designed basketball shoes to compensate for the difference in lengths. She continued to play into high school, but an ACL injury ended her playing days. By then, she had already set her sights on a career in health care.

“When I was in high school, I always knew I wanted to do something in the medical field because of everything I've been through,” she said. “I didn’t know exactly what for sure, but ultrasound was something I had experienced the most. When I started job shadowing, I finally decided on that.”

Roberts, who has been with Ozarks Healthcare for the past five years, said one of the common misconceptions about her job is that ultrasound primarily deals with pregnant women. In fact, that’s a relatively small percentage of what she does. It’s the variety that fascinates her most about her chosen profession.

“I didn’t know everything ultrasound did until I got into ultrasound school,” she said. “It’s actually used on soft tissues and organs throughout the body. Babies are probably what I do the least. I also scan hearts, legs, arms, abdomens, pelvises, and breasts. We trace veins and arteries throughout the body. Ultrasound is non-invasive, and there’s no radiation involved.

“I’m so glad to be at the hospital because I love the variety of exams we do. I’ve always felt that this is my way of giving back for everything I went through. I feel I can connect to patients in a very personal way.”