Pediatric nurses are blessed to touch the lives of patients and families every day. Each patient creates a special place on our hearts that we will often remember. Recently this team provided exceptional care to an 11-month-old child and his family who gave the greatest and most unselfish gift of life through organ donation.
According to the family,
"I haven't talked about the hospital or our experience there too much because to be quite honest, it's too painful. However, after seeing yet another above and beyond kind gesture come from the PICU staff, I think it's necessary I share what truly remarkable people they all are. Let's start with the nurses. My goodness. F always had to have a minimum of 1 nurse dedicated to him and when I say dedicated, I mean they literally didn't leave the room, rarely sat, and probably never ate. They treated his limp, lifeless body like he was their own. You could see the love in their eyes and feel it in their touch. You could see that when something went wrong (out of anyone's control), although they stayed calm, there was pain in their eyes too. They, quite literally, picked us up off the floor when grief hit us so hard we couldn't stand. On our last night, our nurse, Shelby, gave us the greatest gift one could receive in that moment. A tiny bit of closure. She brought in baby bath wash and lotion and allowed us to go through our nightly routine with him one last time: bath, lotion, book and rock in mama's arms. At that moment, I felt peace that I desperately needed.
The doctors fought hospital regulation and moved F to a toddler bed, so that, as you can see in this picture (snapped by the wonderful lady, Amanda, in charge of organ donation) we could lay with our little hero. And last, but certainly not least, Dr. Qaiser. The neurosurgeon who never gave up on F. After getting several second opinions, it was discovered that no one would have even touched the aneurysm F had because of the blood levels in his brain and quite frankly, it had ruptured beyond what most neurosurgeons saw as repairable. But she fought anyway. She held my hands and looked me straight in the eye as I begged, "PLEASE SAVE MY BABY." And her response, "I am going to do everything I can." And guys, she did. Even after the other surgeon told her F was gone, she kept going. She gave our F a better shot than I truly believe anyone (other than God) would have and for that, I am eternally grateful.
So what was their final act of kindness towards our family, they signed up for a softball team at "F the Hero's First Annual Fundraiser". So much love for our F. And we have so much love for them."
This team not only signed up for the fundraiser for one team, but they were able to make two teams with all of the PICU intensivists, Unit Clerks, Dr. Qaiser, RTs, Social Workers, Case Managers, and many other staff members. They also came in on their day off to celebrate the birthday of F with his family. He would have turned 1 that day and the family wanted us to help celebrate their hero. We cut a cake and celebrated with a happy birthday song that we all sang to this sweet boy who is truly a hero.
This team truly is that, A TEAM! They work together through rough times and support each other every day. They treat every single patient just like the child above. They not only provide exceptional nursing care, but they also provide support for our families daily when they are experiencing a nightmare. These nurses, together with their teams, SAVE children's lives and provide dignity to dying patients when in need. This team is truly exceptional.