Sarah Mercer, RN

I first met Sarah the night before my surgery. She knew empathically that I was very nervous. She was warm, tender, and caring, and kept offering me reassurances. I just knew one of these random, never-should-happen events would happen to me, and I would die. I know how bad my heart is. All these bad things could happen, and I imagined it would happen to me. She picked up on that and just knew. She constantly reassured me and told me, “You got this.”

On the morning of my surgery, she looked at me and said, “I’ll see you tonight,” and it made me cry knowing that she believed in that. Our connection was very deep. When she saw me that night, she said, “I told you I’d see you,” with a great big smile. I have been a nurse a long time and have seen so many things go wrong with people in surgery. Sarah made my stay so much brighter just by being here. I am tearful writing this because I wish I could give her something even more amazing than this, but I really hope she wins this award.