My son, J, passed away on PCCU in 2019. My husband and I would like to acknowledge the whole of the PCCU ward for the incredible job that they do in supporting families at such devastating times whilst caring for the children with such dignity and compassion.
The way that the nurses work as a team to support each other with their patients is amazing. Making sure that each child has the support, care, and attention of as many nurses as they need to be cared for in a truly dignified and child-centered way.
I would like to nominate Jade Stolworthy and Jess Hayward as two very special nurses on PCCU.
My son, L was on the ward less than 24 hours and from what I remember, Jade was there for the majority. She worked two-night shifts in a row but finished late and started early in order to handover and look after my son in the best way that she could.
Jade was there when the less than sensitive, neurosurgeon had to break the news to my husband and myself that L had suffered a big bleed on his brain. Jade shed tears of sadness, showed sympathy and compassion, and then worked through the night as a top professional to medically and clinically care for my son and emotionally and pastorally support myself and my husband.
I find it impossible to imagine how someone could balance these roles, these emotions, and professionalism, and yet this must be what is asked of a nurse on PCCU day in and day out. We were truly honoured to have met Jade and to have had her as L's nurse.
Jess looked after him during the day between Jade's night shifts. Jess was also able to walk this line of compassion and empathy whilst being a complete professional and caring for my son on his last day with us, with absolute dignity.
Moreover, although he was heavily sedated and had been through this bleed on his brain, Jess treated him like a little boy. She talked to him, she smiled at him and she rhetorically asked his permission to touch/move him and narrated her actions as she cared for him.
She was also there for my husband and myself and in a very short space of time, we felt we could trust her and rely on her. She managed our family and visitors to L so we were never overwhelmed and we had enough time with him on our own. She facilitated time for us as a family with our younger son, to do footprints and handprints, and so on.
It is too hard for me to go into much detail about L's final minutes but suffice to say they were full of love, peace, and dignity, due to compassionate facilitation of the process by Jess and also Jade who returned to her shift early.
I know that all of the nurses on PCCU are doing this day in, day out and our treatment was a part of them carrying out their everyday work. But that only serves to make it more incredible, more heroic.
We will never forget those very precious hours that we spent on PCCU at Nottingham Children's Hospital.