My mother was hospitalized at Methodist in St. Louis Park after collapsing at my aunt's home in Minnetonka. My mom had stage IV pancreatic cancer, and we usually went to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, as that is where we are from. From the beginning of our admission, Callen was phenomenal. My mother had an ileostomy, and with her being a WOC nurse at Mayo for 35 years, she was able to tell Callen the exact product numbers she needed. Callen, then, worked extremely hard to find the exact ostomy parts that she was looking for.

He took care of our mom as if she were his own mother. He brightened her day every day when she had him, as she knew that her care that day was going to be top-tier. When my mom was transferred to the ICU suddenly, Callen came up and visited her. I'm pretty sure he was a relatively new nurse at the time that he took care of my mom, but he was amazing. He was so kind and caring to my mother and our family. It has been over a year since her hospitalization, and we still remember him like it was yesterday.

The whole hospitalization, we were discussing how to get my mom back to Mayo for care, but if we had to have her stay at Methodist, we would've loved to have kept Callen the whole time. He spoke to each and every one of our family members with kindness and respect. He celebrated with us when my sister got engaged while my mom was in the hospital. We would love for him to know that everything he did while taking care of our mom was appreciated, and we have never had another nurse like him.

Our mother passed away just 5 days after leaving Methodist and getting transferred back to Mayo, but throughout the entire time in the hospital, whether that be Methodist or Mayo, we never had another nurse like Callen. He was truly a gift from God in our mother's hardest moments and our families, as well, as we were coming to terms with the end of her life. He was, is, and will be the absolute best nurse, and I hope he knows how grateful we are to him.