I could write a whole book on why Eli deserves a DAISY Award, but I will limit it to the most impressive situation we had. My husband is 41 years old, healthy as a horse, active, and has no medical problems. He ended up having a heart attack out of nowhere, which led to us finding out he needed a quadruple bypass.

We met Eli in the ICU, and he was beyond wonderful, but the one moment that sticks out to me is when my husband was being extubated. It was just Eli and me at the time in the room with my husband. When my husband came to, he was scared and in so much pain. Eli and I were comforting him and reassuring him that everything was ok. They ended up putting him back to sleep because he couldn’t tolerate the pain. When we started again, it was just Eli and me. When he woke up, he kept writing “panic” in the palm of my hand. Let me say at this point that Eli and my husband and I had already talked about our faith, and Eli told us he would pray with us at any time. When Matt started writing “panic” on my hand, I asked if my husband wanted Eli to pray for him, and he shook his head yes. Eli laid hands on my husband and prayed the most beautiful prayer. He petted my husband’s head, held his hand, and softly and gently helped calm him down, and was able to get him successfully off the ventilator.

The entire time I was watching my husband struggle, tears streamed down my face. Eli saw this and kept reassuring me that everything was ok. He always made sure I knew things were ok when the alarms would go off and would so kindly explain what they meant. He not only got my husband through the extubation but me as well. I wouldn’t have made it through that without Eli, and I don’t think my husband’s second attempt at coming off the ventilator would have been so smooth without Eli gently guiding him through everything.