In the beginning, Lisa came regularly to help me close a football-sized hole in my stomach- she also helped heal my heart after the loss of my daughter. Every time she came by, she tried to bring up my spirits and make all the terrible situations around me seem fixable. I was able to keep my dignity while she packed my stomach and fixed a bed sore - she helped me feel like a person again- like a lady. She always remembers me on special days- honoring my daughter with an ornament and celebrating my first bite of food with chocolate-covered strawberries. My cats even love her- she always comes with treats for them. We talk about current events while she fixes me up. Never once did she judge me for spitting in a bag or puking yet again. When my hair grew, she was just as excited as my family; when I got to join an experimental program that had the potential to save my life, she may have been more excited than my family.

Lisa has answered thousands of texts filled with questions and has gone out of her way time and time again to help brainstorm my many issues. Lisa has been an integral part of my healing journey- without her, my surgeon commented, I would likely have spent much more time in the hospital.

Though my last year was filled with many ups and downs, my days were consistently made much better by Lisa. I’m slowly starting to come back to life- that would have never happened without her.