Brithany Barra, BSN, RN

My 10-year old, severely disabled, double-rare son had 5 pounds of NF2 tumors removed from his abdomen. Brithany was our day nurse. My son is nonverbal with severe hypotonia. I am deaf. She took the time to be sure we understood what was going on all the time and accommodated us, unfailingly cheerful for the 3 days we had her. She changed the “hearing impaired” sign on my son’s door to “deaf” when I jokingly (well, half) mentioned it- on her own, hunted down a charging cube and cord when mine wasn’t working, took on foodservice multiple times for me..., and always had a smile. (This was very important since I am deaf and so is my family.) Brithany brought cheer into the room with her each day, treating my son as a person first rather than a patient, and made it easier to ask for help (which I hate to do). I have had a lot of nurses care for my son in the maybe 120-149 nights we have been at CNMC over the last 10 years. Brithany’s one of the ones I will remember. We need more people like her, especially for our severely disabled children- true compassion and joy toward our kids is so important. Thank you, Brithany for making this crazy-stressful situation just a little better (bunch) for a parent who put off her son’s surgery for 2 years out of fear. He’s my miracle. Thank you for understanding that.