Sadly, our 20 yr old grandson hung himself the day after Christmas. He had a mere flicker of brain activity. He received treatment in the ICU to try to reduce the swelling in his brain to no avail. Since he was an organ donor, he stayed in the ICU a couple days to prepare for the transplant. As you can imagine, this was a devastating time for our family.

His nurse was Shari Cardwell. She was continually patient with us as we asked numerous questions again and again. She answered with patience and compassion, carefully explaining things to us. She allowed us to be in and out as we grieved, each in our own way. She was discrete when I was sitting there with my grandson, holding his hand and crying. She quietly left the room, gently closed the door to give me privacy.

We were worried when she said she would be off for a couple days and another nurse would take over. We were disappointed that we would have to go through all the explaining of who we are etc again. She told us that the new nurse would have complete knowledge of the case and would give us good care. The next day, when I went into his room, Shari was there. She had rearranged her shifts so she could remain his nurse throughout his stay.

I cannot put into words what kindness that action was. We received excellent service from all the ICU staff, but Shari became our compassionate and comforting friend, she was a familiar face.
Our family was blessed to have her as our nurse.