My mother had a stroke. She arrived at St. Luke’s ICU incapacitated due to a hemorrhaging aneurysm. My father, nearly 80 years old, was dependent upon my mother for nearly everything. He was completely lost without her. Stacey, at this point a nursing student, looked after my father until family members hundreds of miles away could arrive. She found him a room in the family ICU section. She found him a cot to sleep on. She took care of him.

We lost track of Stacey for a number of weeks. The next time we saw her was in the cafeteria. She saw us sitting at a table eating. She rushed over and said, “I found you! I found you!” She was so caring and wanted to know how we were. We had the sad duty to tell her we had decided that day to move my mother to the Zilber Family Hospice to wait for her demise. Stacey comforted us.

Later that evening at the Hospice center, a package was delivered to us. In the package was a book about how to say good-bye to the dying. In it was a letter from Stacey. It was a letter of encouragement. She knew how hard things were for us.

We never saw Stacey again, but we have never forgotten her. We hope she understands our appreciation and affection for her. She changed our lives.