Our son had open-heart surgery when he was 4 months old. The surgery itself went fairly well, but his recovery proved to be rocky from the very first night. By the weekend after his surgery, he was becoming harder to sedate. Kristin was our nurse during the day for several of those hard days. Instead of just giving him more medication, Kristin looked for a reason for his discomfort. When our son started to show signs that his feeds may not be sitting well, she investigated further and found some concerning signs that he may have a gut injury. She communicated quickly with the health care team, engaged the right people, and coordinated the ordered tests and imaging.

Because of Kristin’s attentiveness, advocacy, and compassion, our son was able to make a full medical recovery from the extensive NEC they found throughout his intestines after his open-heart surgery. During these long days of uncertainty, she showed as much compassion to me as she did to my son, from honesty and transparency in what they were finding, to making sure my son was clean and as comfortable as possible, all while providing the intensive medical care he required. When I finally let myself leave the room to see his twin, who was being cared for by family, I came back to find my son swaddled in a matching blanket and hat, making him look just a little more like himself. She had even written the lyrics of a sweet song on his whiteboard. Kristin truly goes above and beyond not only for her patients but also for their families. She was an advocate for my son, who couldn’t speak for himself, a caretaker for me on some of my worst days, and an invaluable member of the PCTU team at Mott Children's Hospital.