In April of 2010 my husband and I had the wind knocked out of us and the bottom dropped out of what was our "normal" living. He was diagnosed with melanoma and given 10 months to live. Two and a half years later, he was still fighting the battle. Last September he had a seizure and began down the path that would eventually be his last. That day was extremely confusing and frightening. He spent many days in the Neuro ICU at St. Luke's in Milwaukee, had brain surgery to remove the offending tumor that caused the seizure and eventually was transferred to the 6th floor Neuro Surgical unit. Having been in ICU and the round the clock personal care, the move to a "regular" floor was unnerving. My husband was in extreme pain, not from the surgery, but from the cancer in his abdomen. Often it was a "10" on the pain scale. We had learned over the past year that allowing that pain to get out of control meant many hours and sometimes days to get it back under control.

Moving my husband to the Neuro Surgical floor confirmed my fears. While the care there is very professional, there are more patients per nurse and I knew they just couldn't be there immediately when the pain started to spike. As a result, I spent most nights there so I could be his spokesperson when he needed someone there quickly. I was running on little or no sleep most days but would not allow myself the luxury of driving that hour home and hour back in case he would need help. That was, until Jill Droba was scheduled on as his nurse.

My first impression of Jill was complete professionalism but little of the person behind the knowledge. She listened; she administered and came when my husband called. But I remember vividly the day his pain spiked to a 10, after I had been discussing with the staff to get them to understand how important it was to stay ahead of the pain Jill came on board for her shift and I found a nurse who understood and cared. She took it upon herself to continually check in, monitor his pain and do what was necessary and allowable to keep the pain in check. She told me to "go home and get some rest", an option I had not considered until I saw how diligently she kept her word about caring for my husband. I was able to go home a couple nights because she did her job above and beyond what was expected of her. She kept his pain in check and sprinkled her dry sense of humor in between, knowing how to relate, tease, encourage and care about the human being, not just the patient.

On her day off, she came in to visit with my husband, to make sure he was comfortable and provided an amazing gift of herself to a person who was heading down the last few days of his life on earth.

In the 2 years my husband spent doctoring with this disease, only 4 medical personnel among the hundreds we encountered "made a difference". Jill is one of those four. She is highly deserving of the DAISY Award. She made a huge difference in our lives.