Joseph M Renick
December 2022
Joseph M
Renick
,
BSN, RN
Surgical ICU - Bone Marrow Transplant / Oncology
Barnes-Jewish Hospital
St Louis
,
MO
United States
Joey shared his own cancer story with my husband, and it really inspired him that he too could get through this.
We first met Joey when my husband was diagnosed with Acute myeloid leukemia and taken to Barnes for treatment. We had Joey as our nurse one night during our initial 30-day stay for chemo and to get the disease under control. Joey shared his own cancer story with my husband, and it really inspired him that he too could get through this. Joey has fought leukemia and won 3 times in his life which is incredible, but the comfort he gave my husband with his story was what truly stuck with us.
Joey went on paternity leave after we had him, but we never forgot the care he gave us. When he came back and we were there again for consolidation chemo he came to visit us one night. We talked for a while, and we just truly felt so much comfort and compassion from Joey. Not to mention how nice it was he came to see us when he wasn’t even our caregiver. My husband has thought the world of him since we first met him. He checked on us many times after that too and every time we saw him it was always the highlight of our day.
After my husband was in remission he added Joey on Facebook to keep in touch with him. Sadly, my husband has relapsed and so we have been back at Barnes for almost a month now. When Joey found out we were back he brought us a gift basket with stuff to make us feel more at home during our stay. He now works at 7800 but he took the time to go out of his way to come see us at 10800 after his shift. We were hoping to never end up on the floor he works on now, but my husband got sepsis after his chemo, so we’ve been in ICU now for almost 2 weeks.
I was distraught when my husband was brought down here, and I messaged Joey from my husband’s page to let him know where we were and to see if he was working. He came as soon as he could and went and peeked in on my husband while I was stuck in the waiting room. He came back and I could tell he was upset like I was, but he gave me nothing but words of comfort. He has checked in on us several times since and he always has something positive to say. My husband and I are so thankful we met him. He is truly the best nurse and person.
Joey went on paternity leave after we had him, but we never forgot the care he gave us. When he came back and we were there again for consolidation chemo he came to visit us one night. We talked for a while, and we just truly felt so much comfort and compassion from Joey. Not to mention how nice it was he came to see us when he wasn’t even our caregiver. My husband has thought the world of him since we first met him. He checked on us many times after that too and every time we saw him it was always the highlight of our day.
After my husband was in remission he added Joey on Facebook to keep in touch with him. Sadly, my husband has relapsed and so we have been back at Barnes for almost a month now. When Joey found out we were back he brought us a gift basket with stuff to make us feel more at home during our stay. He now works at 7800 but he took the time to go out of his way to come see us at 10800 after his shift. We were hoping to never end up on the floor he works on now, but my husband got sepsis after his chemo, so we’ve been in ICU now for almost 2 weeks.
I was distraught when my husband was brought down here, and I messaged Joey from my husband’s page to let him know where we were and to see if he was working. He came as soon as he could and went and peeked in on my husband while I was stuck in the waiting room. He came back and I could tell he was upset like I was, but he gave me nothing but words of comfort. He has checked in on us several times since and he always has something positive to say. My husband and I are so thankful we met him. He is truly the best nurse and person.