My mother was brought to the ER by my brother in the very early morning hours with acute stroke symptoms. While I did not join them in the ER until an hour or so after they had arrived, I walked into a tiny ER room filled with a huge amount of care, compassion, and love. Kyleigh recognized that our mom’s condition was very serious and saw the decline before her eyes, as did we. She remained calm, wiped tears, and remained reassuring to not only our mom, but to my brother and me as well. She interacted with such compassion that it helped ease our mom’s concerns (a retired nurse of 47 years!), but she also helped to take her mind off the scary situation.

Kyleigh also did everything in her power to keep her comfortable, which meant everything in those moments. As she was ready to leave her shift, she stopped by to make sure my mom didn’t need anything, and she told her she would pray for her, backed by a sincere tone in her voice that let you know she truly meant it. As Kyleigh was about to exit the room, my mom became unresponsive and began vomiting. Kyleigh didn’t think twice; she threw her purse aside, called for help, and, as an incredible team, they were able to get her intubated immediately and eventually off to surgery. She stayed at our mom’s side until she was “stable”. Had Kyleigh not taken those extra few minutes to have that “human touch” and say goodbye, we could possibly have had a different outcome.

As I write this, we are still uncertain what our mom’s future looks like as her status remains very critical. Thanks to Kyleigh and all of the amazing staff here at CHI Health St. Francis, we have been granted extra time with our precious mom, and we have been quickly reminded of how fragile life truly is. There is a lot that I do not know, but what I do know is that Kyleigh was called into nursing for a higher purpose: to make a difference, to connect with hurting individuals, to go above and beyond.