My mother moved a few days after getting a stage 4 cancer diagnosis, the entire family was terrified of the upcoming days. After getting my mother settled in, she was taken by ambulance because her oxygen levels were really low. While there, my mother tested positive for COVID-19. We knew her prognosis was not good but no one was losing hope. My mother was moved to the COVID unit to receive care and start her cancer treatment. My mother was alone, terrified, and only wanted her children to be there with her. My mother told Nurse Jessica Porter how she was lonely and just wanted to hug us one more time. Jessica stepped up and filled our shoes when we couldn't be there. Jessica sat with my mother and talked to her, made sure she had everything she needed, she even used my mother’s phone to facetime us so we could talk to her. She held my mother’s phone for her so we could see her, cry with her, and chat with her.
Jessica stayed over her schedule at times to see my mother was given her treatments and other medications, she and my mother bonded and really “jived”, as my mother would say.
Jessica was exceptional to my mother, she found my mother cocoa butter lotion and hand-made her some peanut butter crackers from the kitchen. Jessica put her heart into taking care of our mother during what we know now as her last days. I know my mother wanted us there, but I have comfort in knowing she had Jessica. They laughed and giggled as my mother bragged on all of us and Jessica just listened. The day we decided to remove my mother from life support, Jessica was off, but she drove to the hospital and dressed out just to be there with us and support us through the most difficult time in our lives. She felt like family.