Our newly adopted daughter, G, was unexpectedly admitted to Vanderbilt after a heart cath. We were informed that she would need open-heart surgery to receive a shunt as soon as possible. We had only been home from China with G for less than two weeks and this was a very stressful time for our family. Sara Anderson walked into our room in the PCICU and was immediately a ray of sunshine. We spent a couple of days already in the PCICU and were struggling to keep our daughter content while we waited for her to receive her surgery. Sara went above and beyond to make sure that our daughter's time in the PCICU was as stress-free as possible. She brought her toys to play with, took her on wagon rides, gave her overall exceptional care and with her JOYFUL demeanor made sure that my husband, myself and especially our daughter, were at ease.
On the day of our daughter's surgery, Sara was there to talk through every detail. When her surgery was unexpectedly postponed and we were forced to keep her happy with no food, Sara pulled out every stop to make sure that she had everything she needed. When the time for her surgery finally came, Sara was full of compassion and cared so well for us as we walked through such an impossibly hard situation. In the days following her surgery, even though Sara was not assigned as our nurse, she stopped by to check in on us and G. Sara was not only an exceptional nurse who met all of our daughter's medical needs, she went above and beyond and met her emotional needs as well.
Our daughter had already walked through so much trauma in her short life and Sara listened to our needs as adoptive parents and sought to support us in any way that she could. Sara was an amazing nurse who became a friend to our family. We are so grateful for her and will never forget how well she cared for our daughter and our family during our stay at Vanderbilt.