I want to share with you another gift we received. Saturday I was on patent support duty and a young, very wonderful nurse came in and greeted X who was groggy from sleep deprivation and pain medicine. X had undergone a sternotomy for pacemaker placement. The nurse is named Marissa. She asked X if he remembered the secret she shared with him the day before. He said groggily and with an apology that he did not. She said no worries you have been busy. She then said, "I am like you". I am like you, I have had the same surgeries you have had, I am a Fontan patient like you. She happened to work in the Cardiac ICU and happened to be on duty and here she was introducing herself to X! She described her volunteer work with Fontan patients - website with info - walks including one in September, etc. (yes I hope to get him there) She talked to him about his engineering work and enjoyment of Jeeps and she was delightful and professional. She would come back that day and the next for brief hellos. We all hope to see her before discharge.

During that initial visit she shared that her parents did not know about her heart condition before she was born and so she wondered what it was like to know prenatally like we did with X. I shared some perspectives and memories. Like every nurse here when they leave the room they ask if there is anything I can do or get for you to the parents and patient. As X was groggy I replied, "I can't of anything you could provide that you haven't already. Thanks so much. I am like you!" It strikes me as a poignant, beautiful thought. I'm like you. I would like a family, I enjoy music, I get sad, and I worry about the safety of children. Yes, it is particularly significant with the shared surgical background but what Marrisa was saying as the flags stood at half-mast out the window was more. "I am like you!" While we are different and each unique we share so much in common. Marissa made a difference in our son's life, his parent's and friends' lives. Thank you, Marissa!