I knew Shelly's face but actually met her on my unit (MICU) during a really horrible time involving a 24 year old patient with leukemia. We received the patient the night before from BMT where Shelly had cared for him for a few weeks. He was recently diagnosed and started chemotherapy. Evidently, the chemo had damaged his heart. He was very sick, on multiple drips and intubated. Shelly was coming to visit him and I ran into her in the waiting area. I was trying to find his mother because her son had just coded and was being resuscitated. The family had gone to get food and drinks. I went back to the room to get the mother's cell phone number while Shelly volunteered to look for the family. I did not know who I was looking for or what they looked like. Several minutes later, as I came back down the hall, I saw Shelly holding the mother walking with her and the family. We informed them about what was happening and that the team was doing everything they could to bring him back.

It broke my heart as a mother to hear her sobbing as they waited outside his room. The patient's grandmother was present and as distressed as her daughter. The team did get his pulse back but he was on five drips to support his blood pressure and very unstable. It was at least 45 minutes before the mother could enter the room to see him. Shelly stayed with the family the entire time and was more emotionally and spiritually supportive than I or the chaplain could have been. I was in and out of the room providing updates and helping with the very long code. He had to be re-intubated, lines placed and multiple drips were hung. What the family needed was someone they knew and trusted. MICU staff had not had the time to develop that strong connection that was so obviously present with Shelly. I asked her where she worked and if it was okay for her to be off her unit. She said she kept checking in and her co-workers were fine and watching her patients.

We ended up transferring the patient to OSU, where we learned he did not survive. Shelly's Nurse Manager, Lora, told us the family called her to share the information about his death.

Shelly was a blessing for the family. They literally clung to her as she allowed my staff to focus on saving the patient's life.