July 2026 Honoree
Ginger Nance, RN
Being in the NICU is one of the last places anyone wants to be, but being there when you’re far from home and unable to stay all day makes it so much harder. You feel like you never get to see or hold your child enough. To top it off, we had triplets, so even when I was there, I was split in 3 directions among 3 little people, trying to manage care for 3 different health reports, and it was truly overwhelming. No one understood it. No one that is except Ginger.
Ginger has personally navigated both the experience of having premature triplets and the very unfortunate experience of child loss — she never had to share those deeply personal things with our family, but she did — she allowed us to know intimate parts of her story to let our own experience not feel so scary. I can never explain how seen I felt in that moment.
To top it off, she cared for us with more kindness and joy than any other nurse we met here or at the NICU prior. We loved most every nurse, but Ginger went farther than any nurse ever had to go — from making artwork (and we were total strangers at this point! We came in and saw art, something she did just simply because she cared, not because we knew her!), to bringing in her own personal decorations for each holiday to make the room feel cheerful, to her incredibly detailed update photos she’d send us, to giving a hand written weight update card each time we came in, to bringing in holiday props for photo shoots, to bringing her own hair bows in for our daughter, to bringing in books and goodie bags (even extras for our bigger kids who couldn’t meet the babies yet)… the list is never ending.
In a place that feels dark and heavy and scary, Ginger brought peace and love and light. We couldn’t have survived without Ginger.
Our babies needed her as their nurse, but I needed her as a motherly figure in a hard season where I really needed my mom. Words can never express our gratitude for Ginger.
Ginger has personally navigated both the experience of having premature triplets and the very unfortunate experience of child loss — she never had to share those deeply personal things with our family, but she did — she allowed us to know intimate parts of her story to let our own experience not feel so scary. I can never explain how seen I felt in that moment.
To top it off, she cared for us with more kindness and joy than any other nurse we met here or at the NICU prior. We loved most every nurse, but Ginger went farther than any nurse ever had to go — from making artwork (and we were total strangers at this point! We came in and saw art, something she did just simply because she cared, not because we knew her!), to bringing in her own personal decorations for each holiday to make the room feel cheerful, to her incredibly detailed update photos she’d send us, to giving a hand written weight update card each time we came in, to bringing in holiday props for photo shoots, to bringing her own hair bows in for our daughter, to bringing in books and goodie bags (even extras for our bigger kids who couldn’t meet the babies yet)… the list is never ending.
In a place that feels dark and heavy and scary, Ginger brought peace and love and light. We couldn’t have survived without Ginger.
Our babies needed her as their nurse, but I needed her as a motherly figure in a hard season where I really needed my mom. Words can never express our gratitude for Ginger.
Thank you, Ginger, for your exceptional compassion, advocacy, and dedication to your patients. You truly make a difference.
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