Unfortunately, both my brother and father were patients at Tampa General multiple times in the final years of their lives as they both battled with and eventually succumbed to cancer. During my dad's stint in the neuro ICU he had many skilled caregivers. There was one in particular that stood out, Jim Jordan.
Jim immediately developed a rapport with my dad. He treated him like a family member and my dad was visibly at ease in Jim's presence. Never once did Jim make my dad feel undignified, which is a hard thing to accomplish when one is dying of cancer. My dad was a professional athlete, a real man's man. Cancer managed to chip away his physical strength and masculinity but Jim never chose to acknowledge the parts of my dad that were slowly fading and instead always treated him like the man he was underneath. They talked sports and cracked jokes, and when it was time to make hard decisions, Jim was right by our side helping support our family.
There are not enough words to accurately articulate the gratitude I feel for Jim. He made my dad feel less like a dying man and more like just a regular man, a human being with stories and friends and a heartbroken daughter.