Nikki was my daughter's nurse in the ER on what was probably one of the scariest days as a mother. My daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and we found out she was in DKA. Nikki came into the room and introduced herself to my daughter first, then asked my daughter if it was okay to talk to me. My daughter was nervous; the nurse poked her finger for blood when we first got here so the “ladies in red” were scary to her. But not this nurse. She explained to me exactly what she was going to do, and brought her “friends” to meet my daughter.

Another nurse and a child life specialist seemed to just walk in at the right time. Nikki asked my daughter if she could sit on the edge of her bed and talk to her, and my daughter hesitantly said yes. She introduced her “friends” to my daughter and the child life specialist explained to her why she was putting a “medicine straw” in. I could see she was nervous, but she agreed. The bravery of my six-year-old little girl was calmed by Nikki's presence. She showed her what spray was; to help prevent the pain with the “medicine straw.” My daughter never forgot the Spray and told every other nurse that came to get blood that they were supposed to do it her way with Spray.

Nikki began to look for a place for her medicine straw and my daughter asked her why she wore so many flowers. And that’s when she explained the DAISY Award. She explained that each flower was for a letter from a patient she once cared for. While the mask hid her smile, her eyes lit up when remembering her former patients. After getting to know her, I can see why so many patients nominated her for this Award. She was gentle and kind.

The little clip she wore kept announcing things that to a mother sounded terrifying. "Medical alert here in 10 minutes. Trauma alert here now." But she didn’t waver. She maintained her focus. Even when she saw the lab results that told her my daughter was destined for the ICU, she kept calm. The next day, my daughter asked me if she could write a letter to Nikki so she could be a flower on her badge too. At first, I was shocked. My sweet six-year-old little girl, who had been up all night in the ICU with the alarms and the medicines and the blood draws, wanted to be a flower for Nurse Nikki. I hope that one day, someone asks her about her flowers and she can smile down at this once and remember my daughter the way my daughter remembers her. She was our light during the dark hours of a new chronic illness diagnosis. She will always be our “DAISY”.