My son was born at St. Vincent Carmel at 30 weeks gestation. About a week later he was diagnosed with Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and 2 weeks later, when it was confirmed that he would need surgery, he was transferred to St. Vincent Women's. Within the first few days of being there, we had Kathy Gaafar as our nurse. I honestly don't really remember much about the details; it was all such a whirlwind. Kathy immediately "signed up" as our son's primary nurse. The next few weeks were agonizing as we waited until our son was big enough and strong enough for his surgery. Kathy was there, taking care of him and taking care of me. One Sunday Kathy came to work and knew, instinctively, that our son was not right. She advocated for him to have further tests run, even though it was a Sunday. They did some X-rays and found that his condition had worsened since his arrival. The surgeon was called and surgery happened that same day. The next few weeks were extremely difficult. Our son got a septic infection and was transferred to PICU to be put on ECMO. He is still here and thriving. I am convinced that if our son had a different nurse that day, he would have gotten even worse and would not have survived. Kathy saved our son's life. I thank God every day that He paired her with our family. Kathy was there then, and she is there now. Our son will be released this week, after nearly 6 months in the hospital and 4 surgeries. Kathy went above and beyond for us and I will forever be grateful. I only wish there were some way for me to show her just how grateful we are.