I am the mother of a miracle. My son, B, was born too small, too soon & too sick at 29 weeks gestation. He was only 2 pounds & 14 inches tall. B had lots of trials in his early life. He had lots of the typical things that you’d expect with a preemie baby like bronchopulmonary dysphagia, feeding trouble & being teeny tiny. Due to these issues & being premature, B had a PICC line placed in his let & was on respiratory support. Things got a little worse for B before they got better. He was diagnosed with a rare genetic liver condition called Alpha 1 Antitrypsin Deficiency. He also had an added issue of unexplained hypoglycemia. With the complexity of these issues, he was sent to Primary Children’s where we met the angel that is Eliza.

She looked at my teeny tiny, jaundiced baby, & reassured me that yes, these issues are bad, but no, these issues aren’t too bad. Yes, he’s sick, but no, he isn’t too sick. She handed out hope like it was candy. I truly felt like with her & your medical team, we had a fair shot of things being okay. As much as I love my baby, I didn’t understand my baby. Eliza changed that. She continually researched things she didn’t know & explained things she did in a way that I could better understand my son. He needed me desperately, and if we are being honest, I was afraid of him. I was afraid because he was too small. I was afraid because he was too sick. Eliza spent countless hours helping me overcome those feelings. Something changed & he went from being too scare, to just being my son; the obvious love of my life.

Later in our stay, unknowingly, B had developed Osteomyelitis in his left leg. It had developed as a result of the PICC line. The infection had spread to his 7th rib scarily close to his heart. Eliza noticed issues with B probably even before he noticed issues with himself. Eliza requested that the NP order labs to be drawn during her night shift because he wasn’t acting normally. Something ‘seemed off.’ Labs were drawn, tests were in the process of being run, and B was being taken care of. Her shift was over & she went home. That day will forever be the worst day of my life. That day, one week before my son's initial due date, my baby, who wasn’t yet supposed to be alive, went full code blue while in my arms. All the doctors were called; the whole gang rushed in. They didn’t know what was wrong, but they could tell pretty quickly that he had septic shock. I didn’t think, even now, that I understood everything that transpired. It is a mother's worst nightmare! That’s just about as bad as it gets! At the time, all we understood as his parents was that he was very, very, very sick, & that it was time to be very, very, very scared. Not too long after my baby became stable, Eliza’s middle-of-the-night test results came back. Because of Eliza, we were able to get a substantial jump on his aggressive infection. Because of Eliza, my baby got treatment hours before he would have otherwise.

That isn’t the end of our praises or the role she’s played in our lives. She showed up for her next shift, & walked me through his whole code. She explained the whole situation. She took everything that seemed so loud, traumatic, and scary, and dissected it. She made me feel safe again. She then demanded ‘nurses orders’ that we go get something to eat, & breathe. We had spent hours & hours in his room, afraid, & she helped us feel that he was safe. She made me feel that she had his back...& with who Eliza is, I believed her! I took my first real breath since his code & started feeling that things would be okay. Because of Eliza, I get to be his mother. Because of Eliza, my son is a happy, healthy, thriving 8-month-old. He’s alive! He’s well! You have one smart, capable, caring, funny, charismatic nurse in that girl. She continually went the extra mile to make sure that my son was okay. She got to know him like she’s family, & loved him just as much. Your staff ran B's code amazingly, & she came around after & picked up the pieces of my broken heart. Leaving your baby with nurses is heard. Leaving your baby with friends like her is much easier. We survived prematurity!