I went to the ER with abdominal pain. After tests and scans, it showed that my right ovary was twisted and needed emergency surgery which started around midnight. During surgery, my right ovary had to be removed. After surgery was completed, I had to stay a few days in the hospital. It was early morning when I got back to the room. I remember first waking up in a lot of pain but my Nurse, Sean Flanagan, greeted me that morning with a smile on his face with my morning meds. All day he would come and check on me. Unfortunately, I was not feeling good, extremely nauseous and wasn’t able to go to the bathroom. Sean was extremely patient with me. I was extremely sore and in a lot of pain. He would gently get me in and out of bed and would remind me to take my time. Every time I would feel nauseous, Sean would bring me a cold rag and bag. Sean noticed that cold rags helped me, he would bring me multiple wash rags. Later that day I was able to keep sprite & crackers down, Sean noticed that and would make sure I had sprites and crackers in my room. The next day, Sean was not my Nurse. He was actually at the end of the hall, but multiple times a day he would come and check on me. Unfortunately the next day, things went south.

The doctor ordered bloodwork, everything came back low, he ran a CT scan and it turned out I was bleeding internally. I also needed a blood transfusion. While the OR was getting prepped, Sean rushed to my room to start the blood transfusion. During this time, my family and myself were all emotional and upset. Sean stayed by my side, talked me through the process, gave me encouragement and laughter, which was much needed. When the OR was ready and it was time, the OR staff came to get me. Sean walked down with me and gave me more encouragement. He also stayed with my family & gave them encouragement. My mom was emotional and he stayed by her side. During surgery he came and checked on my family. My family describes Sean as “selfless, empathetic, and hardworking.” Sean helped my family an abundance while I was in surgery. The surgery lasted a few hours. When I woke up, I remember Sean’s smile and saying everything went amazing. I’m a big fan of animals, I had a monkey & hippocampus stuffed animal and cow house slippers. Sean and myself had multiple conversations about animals. The monkey stuffed animal I have had since I was a baby. The next day Sean came back and told me he went home and dug up his bear that he had when he was a child. He came in and showed me it. It truly made my day and it brought so many smiles to me to see that. That same day I was finally able to get out of bed and do a lap around the floor. He gave me so much motivation, strength and was so excited to see me walking around. Sean is truly an amazing individual and I’m so thankful to have had him as my Nurse. Sean truly helped my family and myself during this life changing event. During this time, I was a senior in college and was supposed to have the graduation ceremony two weeks after my first surgery. My emotions were through the roof, Sean helped me a lot and reminded me to take one day at a time. A day does not go by that I don’t think about this traumatic event, even though what happened was traumatic and stressful, I look back at the amazing things Sean had done for me. Sean is truly a gift from God himself, I will forever treasure Sean and cannot thank him enough for everything he did for my family and myself. As I start my career, Sean is a role model to me, I strive to be a strong, selfless individual like Sean.