Our daughter was diagnosed with tracheoesophageal fistula immediately after her birth and transported to the NICU at Children's of Alabama. We ended up spending 32 days at the hospital before taking her home, but it is those first few days that stand out to us. Kristin Lindsey was our nurse, and she did an incredible job of informing, calming, and comforting us during what was the most stressful time of our lives.

During the next 6 days, Kristin arrived at work with a cheerful attitude and did an incredible job of not only taking care of our daughter, but also taking care of our entire family. We had a number of awesome nurses during our time at Children's, but Kristin stood out among them all because she cared almost as much about our family as she did for our daughter, which is an incredible compliment because she did a phenomenal job taking care of our daughter. She also stood out because of her intellect, as she was able to intelligently and articulately respond to each of the many questions that we had in those first few days, and when she didn't know the answer (which was rare), she immediately went to someone who did. Kristin performed her required duties in an exceptional manner, but what we appreciated the most is the way that she went above and beyond the call of duty to take care of our daughter and our entire family.

We sincerely believe that the foundation of care that Kristin provided during that first week is the reason that our daughter healed so well and so quickly and was able to come home from the hospital when she did. Kristin is the definition of exceptional, and we enthusiastically nominate her for the DAISY Award.