Serena Meiss saved my grandpa's life. He was in for an aortic aneurysm, and his odds for surgery didn't look good. He was intubated and unable to speak, so we had to make the choice to continue with the surgery or not. We knew that the road to recovery would be a hard one, and we made the choice to decline the surgery. As we made this heartbreaking decision, Serena told us she could lower Papa's sedation so that we could speak to him. Once he was awake, he was able to shake and nod his head to answer questions, so we asked him the most important question we could ask, "Do you still want this surgery, knowing how hard the recovery will be?" And he nodded. Had Serena not thought of our need as a family to communicate with Papa, we would have declined the surgery. My grandpa would have died. Because of her consideration and her ability to put herself in the shoes of others, my grandpa is alive today. Not only that, but just four months post-surgery, he's gone from bed-restricted in a nursing home to walking around independently back in his own home. I had the fortune of attending high school with Serena, and while we weren't really friends, I knew who she was. I could have never guessed that the girl I sorta-kinda knew in high school would grow up to be my hero!