Our daughters, A and M, were born at 25 weeks and 6 days gestation and were admitted to the NICU at Spartanburg Medical Center. Our daughters are adopted, and at 10:00 P.M. that night, we received a phone call from their birth mother telling us they were born very unexpectedly. We live in Colorado, but we booked tickets as quickly as possible and were on a plane the next day for what would become the most trying 5 months of our lives.  While the girls were in the NICU, my wife and I experienced some of the lowest lows of our lives but also, oddly enough, some of the highest highs of our lives. This was due to meeting some of the most incredible people who worked in the NICU. These people who have now become like family, not only gave our girls the absolute best medical care possible, but truly loved them and supported us throughout this trying time. Everyone we met holds a special place in our heart but one person in particular stands out amongst the rest, this nurse.  
    
Needless to say, the almost 6 months we lived in Spartanburg while our daughters were in the hospital was the most difficult time. The first few days of their life, the girls were relatively stable, but that was to quickly change. When our daughter M was 6 days old, she suffered a bowel perforation that occurred in the middle of the night. This nurse had picked up an extra overtime shift that night and happened to be the girls' nurse. When this nurse went to perform her 2:00 am cares for each baby, she very quickly realized something was seriously wrong with M’s abdomen. This nurse notified the nurse practitioner working that night and began to work on M, taking measurements of her belly to compare them to previous measurements, drawing labs, arranging for x-ray to come, and speaking with the on-call physician. A little over an hour later, M was in emergency surgery at her bedside as she was too unstable to move to an operating room. This nurse never left her side even during the surgery. After we spoke to the physician and surgeon, we asked if we could come to see M as this was the middle of the night, and this nurse said we could but that she wanted some time to get her cleaned up and a little more stabilized for us but that she would be with her. The next day, Mhad a brain ultrasound, and it was identified that she also had a severe grade 4 unilateral brain hemorrhage. The outlook for her that day did not look promising, but we firmly believe that the only reason we still have our precious daughter with us to this day is because of this nurse’s quick identification and action that resulted in M getting the care she needed. Just a few days later, this nurse decided to primary our girls, and we could not have been more thrilled that they would have not only continuity of care but also be with someone who truly cared about them and didn’t just see them as patients.
    
After A’s first three weeks of life, she was found to have a twisted bowel and would need to be transferred to Greenville SC for surgery. A few days later, our A passed away unexpectedly from complications of that surgery. Again, this nurse was there for us and M. Thankfully, this nurse was working that day and was taking the best care of M, who was still very sick and intubated. We could focus on spending as much time as possible with A before we had to say goodbye because we trusted that M was in the best hands. This nurse continued to be incredible not only for M after losing her sister but also for us.  This nurse cried with us, laughed with us, talked about A and shared stories of her tenacity and her incredible fight with us.  She knew when we were having a tough day and would give us space if we needed, making sure to pull the curtain around M’s bedspace and made sure the rest of the NICU staff knew to give us time and space on the tougher days.  
    
This nurse is not only an incredible nurse, but she is an even better human being.  When this nurse was working, we felt safe; we knew our girls would be taken care of while she was working. We felt comfortable sleeping in a little later or leaving the NICU for breakfast or lunch for an hour or two when we needed a break from the stressors of the hospital while she worked because we knew our daughters would have the best care with her.  To this day M is not only surviving, but she is thriving, and we firmly believe that this is due to the love and care she received while in the NICU, and specifically from this nurse. M was finally released from the NICU after 133 days. In that time, this nurse became family to us! We now refer to her as Auntie whenever talking about her with M and make sure to send pictures and updates to her. This nurse exemplifies what a DAISY Nurse is and is not only incredibly skilled at her profession but also provides the most compassionate care. We are beyond blessed to have had this nurse as our girl’s nurse and now as family!
         
I have written dozens of awards packages throughout my 10-year career in the Air Force for my Airmen, both while home stateside and while deployed overseas in support of combat operations, but I have never written an award package for someone more deserving to be recognized for their work ethic, their care, and their character than Lindsay.