Russel was our night RN the first night we arrived in ICU. Our daughter had been spitting up green fluid since birth as well as not having a bowel movement. She also was not interested in eating very much only consuming very little at each feeding. Her little belly was getting harder each day. We were concerned about her. He watched me try to feed her all day and took notice of how little she ate. That evening he took great interest in our daughter asking many questions, what we'd experienced at home after her birth before we brought her in. He tried on several occasions to try and get her to eat more knowing she needed more food that she was consuming. He noticed her belly was growing larger and larger and knew something was desperately wrong.

We credit Russel in figuring out what was wrong with our daughter. His determination lead him to suggest to the doctor that we stop feeding her and pump the contents out of her stomach. There was no way for the breast milk to pass from the stomach to her bowel to be eliminated so it was all backing up in her stomach which alerted doctors. We highly recommend Russel for this award, he is an excellent nurse and overall a great person and we know God put him in charge of our daughter so that he could care for her.