Our unit, like many, is full of kind, hard-working, dedicated RNs, RCPs, MDs, and APPs. We band together to provide our very best to our patients and families. In a unit of kind people, one kind nurse stands out to me for her many acts of heart.

Over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season, we cared for one young lady as she struggled with multi-organ failure. Throughout her hospital course, which would become her last time in the hospital, she remained on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support for respiratory failure in the setting of plastic bronchitis. She had many complications during her journey and weakened to the point where she was bedridden. As time marched on, she began showing signs of depression, and began to withdraw more and more, as the overwhelming realization of her reality began to take hold. During this hard time for this young lady, this nurse made a point to read Harry Potter to her. And she didn't just read H.P. She performed Harry Potter, changing to a different voice for each character. She even spoke with a British accent. She continued to read to this young lady up until her last days with us, and her visits were some of the few times this young lady smiled. Many of us were deeply touched by this nurse’s acts of kindness to this beautiful, teenage heart warrior, for we all remembered this young lady, before she withdrew to self-preserve, had shared that she loved to read. So, this nurse filled her last weeks with us with Harry Potter, which is, as any reader of young adult fiction can attest, one of the best books around.

Recently, she became part of a primary nurse team for another heart warrior. This young man, another teenage heart warrior, was requiring CVVH therapy to support renal failure while awaiting a second heart transplant and a first kidney transplant. This young man had his first heart transplant in infancy. His journey has included numerous clinic visits, heart catheterizations, and many, many hospitalizations. During his time on CVVH therapy, he received a routine 4-hour break where he was untethered from the CVVH machine and thus able to move more freely. This nurse began to care for this heart warrior early in his hospitalization, and she began to find ways to engage him in something I don't think I've witnessed before. She got creative and came up with a great way to bring some fun to this young man's hospital stay by coordinating an egg drop contest in the unit.

For most children, an egg drop contest is a rite of elementary school passage. I have fond memories of my daughter's school egg drop contest. You may share similar fond memories. But that was not the case for our heart warrior. This young man had missed his elementary school egg drop contest. Such things are all too familiar for our heart warriors, who frequently miss school due to illness or hospitalization. This nurse set out to right the balance by coordinating an egg drop contest in the unit, all to occur during her heart warrior's 4 hours of freedom. She assimilated 12 identical egg drop kits, including the instructions that the egg had to be contained within the provided plastic bag (proving once again what we all know to be true: nurses are resourceful and really know how to think on their feet). She then rallied the CICU troops: several nurses, this young heart warrior, his mom, plus two attendings, and a group of several APPs all got a kit and got busy creating their solution to the egg drop challenge! Who would successfully drop their egg from the second-floor bridge down to the hospital lobby and find their egg completely intact when they retrieved it from the lobby floor??!! And then this nurse partnered to get approval for the activity and our security department's kind assistance in keeping the lobby space safe and clear.

12 kits, 12 eggs, 12 different solutions, 2 security guards, 4 hours of freedom and 1 nurse mastermind all came together for CICU's Egg Drop 2025 Challenge. Several eggs survived. Several eggs cracked (into their plastic bag, thus ensuring a mess-free event). Several eggs were disqualified once a thorough inspection revealed a tiny hairline fracture. Everyone had a great time, and a teenage heart warrior (and his mom) now have an egg drop memory to call their own. All because 1 nurse went above and beyond to bring some lighthearted fun and connection to an otherwise busy day in a busy unit where all of us are often super busy just trying to get our work done, get our charting done by 4 and get a full lunch break.

Watching this nurse as she pours her heart into caring for our heart warriors has lit the hearts of all who work alongside her. Her random acts of heart have reminded me that we have to create time for the things that matter. Connection. Play. Making good times and good memories, even during bad times. Perhaps most especially when amid bad times. I'm excited to see what this nurse will do next. I just had to share what I've witnessed, because it's so touched my heart. It reminded me what nursing is all about. 

She doesn't do this work for recognition, and when I learned about this egg drop contest, I learned from others that she has done many other small acts of kindness and brought smiles and laughter in many other ways. Her dedication to betterment through heart-filled acts of kindness has made our work in the CICU so much lighter. For this, I nominate this nurse as the next DAISY Honoree, and I hope she will join this most cherished group that honors the heart of nursing.

When I shared that I was submitting a nomination for the DAISY with the mom whose son is the one impacted by the egg drop contest, she was so happy to hear of her nomination. Mom shared that she is her son’s favorite girl nurse (he has a favorite male nurse colleague who is one of his primary nurses). They love her, and she shared more of this nurse’s stories, such as a blind-baking contest and magic tricks, all while busy caring for her son!