Marina deserves to be recognized for the compassion, kindness and care she gave my mom during her recent stay in the hospital. My mom is in the later stages of Alzheimer's and hospital stays can definitely be very scary and upsetting for her.

Mom can't really communicate things clearly, for anyone who doesn't know her, it really just sounds like a lot of mixed-up words that don't make much sense. That didn't matter to Marina, she listened to every word my mom said and made eye contact, nodded, and commented back like they were having their own conversation that only they understood. For her to be so sweet and respectful to mom who can't say what she wants to but still wants to be listened to, it meant everything to me.

Marina would pop in during our stay to say hello to her or hold her hand for a few moments, which always brought a smile to my mom's face. I had brought my mom a small stuffed Llama for her to snuggle while she was there (I jokingly call it the "Llama for my Mama"). When mom was discharged from the hospital to a skilled nursing center, we somehow left the Llama behind. It wasn't an hour later when Marina called me, worried that Mama didn't have her Llama. I was already on my way home, so Marina asked if she could drop it off to Mom after her shift at the nursing center.

This morning when I visited Mom, she was still asleep, but snuggled right under her arm was her favorite Llama! Please recognize Marina for going above and beyond for my mom, her kindness and compassion are something I will never forget, and I wish there were more people in the world like Marina!

Note: This is Marina's 2nd DAISY Award!