There are some people that you ultimately feel in your bones God placed in your path to help, to guide, to provide blessing and comfort, to use as the feet and hands of God Almighty here on Earth. Some pray that their life’s calling as a Christian may coincide with their occupation for this purpose. I believe Melinda Cox was called to be a Nurse Practitioner and was used by the Almighty One to help save my son’s leg, and ultimately his life. Our journey with Melinda started as we entered into the Emergency Room, just 2.5 days after our 18 month old son, C, began limping and showing progressing deterioration of weight bearing status through his left leg. What started out as the diagnosis of a “groin strain” and progressed from transient synovitis of his left hip to finally septic arthritis of his left knee with myositis of his quadriceps, proved to be a challenging case. He ended his 16th day in the hospital having had three knee surgeries, four MRIS, one blood transfusion, a PICC line, having been placed under anesthesia five times, and having taken four different IV antibiotics, which caused numerous uncomfortable side effects for him. 

We first met Melinda Cox, Nurse Practitioner, as she rounded down to the ER from the pediatric unit to help prepare for admission; she explained the plan for the rest of that evening, preparing for an MRI, which would then determine what, if any, next steps would be needed. Her personality demonstrated a calming yet informative style of communication which was greatly appreciated by us in that moment.  Melinda demonstrated exceptional attention to detail, asking for the specifics surrounding this. 
Something that is important to know to illustrate why Melinda’s actions compelled me to nominate her for the DAISY Award is that I had a strong suspicion of the bacteria type that I felt was responsible for my son’s knee infection very early on in his presentation. Melinda was one of the first people I vocalized this suspicion to, and who I consider to be the lead advocate for my “Mom gut” on my son’s medical team. Melinda really listened to my wishes as a parent. She fought to help me get the answers I wanted and that I knew my son needed to be on the right treatment protocol. She showed a dedication to her professional duties that went above and beyond to fight for what I was asking for, and what I think she did her own extensive research on to understand my rationale. 

Melinda provided me with a sense of comfort. She made me feel heard. She made me feel understood. Most importantly, she gave me the confidence that someone on the other side of the desk had my child’s best interest in mind and was, in fact, doing everything in their power to ensure his well-being was cared for beyond what I was able to do as his mother.  

Words cannot really express the blessing that Melinda is to our family or the gratitude we have for the concern she showed for our son. She listened with the most compassionate of hearts and kept what was best for our son’s health and safety at the forefront of her clinical decision-making. She advocated for me, as his mother, and therefore for him. I am grateful for her in so many ways, for her attention to detail, for her intentional and thorough communication, for her professional dedication, for her displays of human compassion and empathy, and mostly because she fought to ensure my son received the proper medical interventions and ultimately helped get him on the road to recovery. We are only one of the families who feels compelled to say “thank you” to Melinda Cox.