December 2008
Mary Ellen
Chunchick
,
RN
Oncology
UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh
,
PA
United States

 

 

 

Mary Ellen has been my daughter's oncology nurse since she was diagnosed with ALL in 2005. Throughout this time she has cared for Sarah with tremendous compassion, dedication and love. Sarah had no fear of pokies with Mary Ellen because they had their system for accessing her port. Sarah merrily told Mary Ellen about her life as Mary Ellen went about giving chemo, sedation, blood and love. Mary Ellen also tended to my needs as Sarah's parent. She comforted me through times when Sarah was very sick, encouraged me when I felt like a terrible parent and held out hope when the journey seemed unmanageably long. When we finished chemo, Sarah was sad and said she wanted to keep doing chemo for the rest of her life so she could keep seeing Mary Ellen. As a mother moving through what I hope will be the worst period of my child's life, this lack of fear and plenty of comfort with a terrible process is the greatest gift a caregiver could have given my family and child.