Our family’s life was forever changed on Marathon Monday, when our daughter C. was born at 25 weeks and 6 days weighing only 710 grams (that’s only 20% of what a newborn typically weighs). We were in the Brigham and Women’s NICU for 142 days. Thirty-six hours into C.’s life, we met Izzy. For the duration of our NICU stay days, Izzy was C.’s primary nurse, C.’s fiercest advocate, C.’s best friend, and our strongest supporter. Izzy took extraordinary care of our whole family. C.’s NICU journey was very long and rocky, and having a nurse like Izzy helped make the darkest of our days lighter.

From the very start, Izzy helped us navigate how to be a parent to a 1.5-pound baby. She taught us how to do her diapers, let us hold C. on her third day of life, and encouraged us to be involved in taking care of our very sick daughter. Izzy celebrated every one of C.’s victories with us, even if it was something as little as poop. Izzy made C.’s first bath possible, even though she was still intubated. On difficult days, Izzy was strong for us, both taking exceptional care of our daughter and explaining what was going on to us with compassion. On days when we felt weak, Izzy was strong for us and advocated for C. when we were not in the hospital. On days she was working, we would use it as an opportunity to get some much-needed extra rest since we knew she was in good hands. We even planned our family meetings around the days Izzy was working since we knew that she had the best insight into C.’s health. Izzy not only gave extraordinary medical care to C., but she developed a friendship with C. and treated her with love. As C. got older, she would smile when Izzy talked to her. One evening, Izzy stayed after her shift to read a book with us to C. My husband was moved to tears. Beyond physical treatment, it was vital to us that C. had an environment that would likely have a positive effect on her neurodevelopment. One example is the day Izzy took care of the whole family. It was a really challenging day, we got some tough news from the doctors. On that day, she took care of all of us. She did C.’s care. My husband pulled his back, so she taught him how to ice his back. E. was really emotional from the hard news, so we took some time to cry on the terrace. Izzy came out to the terrace and gave E. a hug before she left for the day. Izzy went above and beyond for all of us. Izzy is an incredible human and extraordinary nurse and is very deserving of the DAISY Award. Today, C. is almost 6 months old and thriving at home. She is hitting all of her age-adjusted milestones. We believe that part of why C. is doing as well as she is today is because of the love and care she got from Izzy in the NICU.