Our twins were delivered extremely early, at 23 weeks. Unfortunately, our son only survived 10 hours, but our daughter survived and was in the NICU at Ball for 136 days. Darrah made our long journey easier, brighter, and better. She was so proactive about our daughter's care. She didn't let any little thing go. If she noticed any small thing at all that was different for our girl, she would advocate for her. If we had any questions or concerns at all, she addressed them right away with a provider and found out an answer for us. We felt such relief when Darrah was our nurse for the day.

Our daughter had several episodes where her heart rate and oxygen would drop very low. There was one specific time her heart rate took a long time to recover. Sitting back and watching all the nurses work on your child is such a hard thing to do. I was very upset and worried and Darrah could see the fear on my face. She came over to me, gave me a huge hug, and let me cry into her arms. It was exactly what I needed at that moment. She truly cared not only for our daughter but also for myself and my husband. She is so compassionate and caring, and you can tell she truly loves her job, and her patients matter to her.

After 136 days, you really get to know the staff, and Darrah is one of the best! Our daughter came home on oxygen, so we needed to be prepared, and she took the time out of her busy day to come practice and go over the CPR kit videos with us. She made sure we felt comfortable knowing it. Darrah also always made sure to talk about our son, who passed away, and she never forgot him. It meant so much to us. She paid such attention to details like making sure our daughter's mouth was always swabbed and cleaned out while she was intubated and making sure her tape was perfect on her nasal cannula. She paid attention to tiny details that meant so much to us. She would make sure things got done! She made our long, challenging NICU journey so much better. Thank you, Darrah!