My dad is currently in the Medical ICU recovering from a TBI. Our world was flipped upside down in a matter of hours. We were being told, "we just don't know the outcome" for days. We still don't really know what his outcome will be. I think it was day 4 that Maddy was our nurse. We had made several big decisions regarding his care in the days prior to this. My perfectly normal healthy dad now has a trach and is on the ventilator, he's requiring sedation, he has a PEG tube, all of these huge changes. In the midst of all the chaos, all the unknowns, Maddy made me feel hopeful. I'm a nurse myself, I knew more than I wanted to and I was having to make big decisions and explain everything to everyone because of my knowledge. She answered all my questions and was so kind, it is hard to give up control over the care of your loved ones, and she made sure I felt like I still had a say in his care and he was getting the best care. I was overwhelmed and hadn't even slowed down to think about it. Maddy probably doesn't even realize how much of an impact she had on me that day. She made me feel good about advocating so hard to get him into the best TBI center no matter what state that may be in, she celebrated his small victories with me that day, and she treated him like the person he is. She got to know him through me because she couldn't get to know him through himself. After days of hearing the terrible news, Maddy gave me hope. The hope I needed to get through the hard decisions. It was the push needed to keep going and keep being the best I could be for him and my family. Because of Maddy, I will keep advocating for my dad and I have hope he will make a full recovery from an injury that medically should have a poor outcome.