Avery Nieslanik, BSN, RN

I cannot thank Avery enough for choosing to go into Nursing. I had an 80-foot mountain climbing fall, which left me with a spinal cord injury and very severe neurogenic pain and paralysis. I have lived all over the world and have been hospitalized on four different continents. I also have a professional background in healthcare globally. I mention that because I have known some amazing nurses and facilities around the world. Having said that, I have rarely run across an individual that has such extraordinary intuition in her technical skills, as well as her human care in her presence. After a pain storm this last Tuesday, Avery was assigned to me for the night shift. I cannot put into human words the kind of pain that I was experiencing except to say that it was like being tortured from the inside of your own body. Avery came alongside me and cared for me, in the most vulnerable moments that I can remember. Her thoughtfulness and anticipation of what I needed for comfort, her compassion, her technical skills, and her quick and gentle disposition gave me the gift of human kindness that realigns the soul after a life-threatening storm. Please follow this young woman in her endeavors and train many others to follow in the skills that she has. Thank you so much, Avery. The only reason I could sleep that night was because I knew you were watching over me. I knew that my tears mattered.