When I found out about the DAISY award to recognize a nurse who had gone above and beyond, I became excited that I could actually be part of something that would show my appreciation as a patient. Mary Lehman is the wound and ostomy nurse at SPAH and has gone above and with me as a patient. However, the story does not begin here at SPAH.

It started in 2009 at Sentara Bayside Hospital. In January 2009, I had an abscess attached to my colon. After several days of trying to medically heal me, it was obvious that surgery was the necessary route. After surgery and many complications, waking up to the realization of an ostomy was overwhelming. Mary came to see me several times a day those first few days. When she came to see me, not only was she helping me with my ostomy care, but she listened to me crying and screaming about the realization of an ostomy. After a very long hospital stay, I can say that Mary made sure I was comfortable with my ostomy and wound care before I left the hospital.

As the years have gone by, my Crohn's Disease has progressed, and I have had several surgeries since that first one in 2009. I have had many issues with skin breakdown around my stoma, and any time I have needed Mary, she has always made time for me.

I have been at SPAH with other family members, and if she has seen me, she has always asked me how I am and if I'm having any issues with my stoma. She has even taken me into the bathroom and given me tips and ideas that can help with skin breakdown issues.

In the past month, I have been hospitalized twice with flares from my Crohn's. Mary came to see me on a Saturday, her day off, for a consult. This was a non-emergency issue and she didn't have to come and see me, but she did on her own time. Then two weeks later, I was back as a patient and Mary was right back to see me. (I was still in the ER waiting for a room upstairs when she came to see me.) While I have been here this last time, Mary has come to see me no less than twice a day. She has been encouraging, supportive, and on my behalf, has contacted several companies that make ostomy supplies, to send me samples.

It has been, in my experience, in the past five years, that I have dealt with the progression of this horrible disease, that the wound and ostomy nurses of Sentara hospitals have been slowly disappearing. With the realization of downsizing in corporate America, it is hard to not recognize these realities.

Mary Lehman is an invaluable nurse. I don't think that she will ever know how much she means to me, and I'm sure, other patients.