Our critical care TEAM learned of a patient’s struggles and was able to make his dying wish come true which was to be married in the eyes of God before he left this world. After hearing this story, the servant hands and hearts of our caregivers went to work and brought it to fruition in less than 12 hours. Led by their caring, compassion, and empathy, they were able to provide a miracle wedding. The TEAM showed up the next day with 4 white dresses and 4 pairs of shoes for the bride to choose from.

On the Groom’s side, the TEAM provided a black button-up shirt and dressed him to be the fanciest one on the unit, except for his bride, all while carefully navigating IV access, chest tubes, foley, Bipap, and cardiac monitoring leads. The wedding was an elegantly simple, but magical affair. This couple’s love for one another was evident in the way they looked and held onto one another. Not once did this couple let go of each other as the Pastor read their vows. We want to say Thank You to our TEAM:

From our bedside caregivers in the critical care unit who cleaned and decorated the critical care hallway to make it look like a wedding aisle …to our gift shop caregivers for donating their time, talents, and efforts for decorating the patient’s door and room to not look so much like a hospital…to our caregivers who decorated the desk outside the room with sparkling grape juice wine cups, the wedding cake, napkins, cups, forks, and “Just Married” decorations …to our caregivers who played music and blew bubbles while the bride walked down her miraculous ICU wedding isle …to our critical care team, who raised over $700 to place in a wedding card for the new couple in under 12 hours …to our 5th floor team who came down to help in any way they could …to Nothing Bundt Cake who graciously donated the cake and had it ready for pick-up in 30 minutes …to our Chaplain who coordinated with the Hospice Chaplain and passed around a bible for everyone to sign …to the Hospice Chaplain who dropped all his plans that day to give the bride a ride to the hospital and ensure that the two would have to chance to say “I do…”

Being able to treat and heal someone sometimes means leaving one’s comfort zone; it took all involved, from clinical to non-clinical staff, to make a real difference in this couple’s life. Rarely does a TEAM so definitively exemplify holistic, patient-centered care. The power of giving is manifested in the kindness and generosity that you bestow on someone else. When you give to another selflessly, the vibrational energy emitting from your subconscious is at its strongest. The power of giving, according to neuroscience, is that it feels good. When we give, we reap the joy of seeing a bright smile, laughter, tears of joy, and gratitude for life. We know that if people give just a little more, of their time, skills, knowledge, wisdom, compassion, wealth, and love, the world would be a more peaceful, healthier, and happier place. The rewards of giving are priceless.

In the words of Mother Teresa, “Your true character is most accurately measured by how you treat those who can do nothing for you.” I can think of no finer group that exemplifies our humanity towards one another and the true spirit of nursing as our TEAM here at UT Health North Campus.