Our son was diagnosed and hospitalized with staphylococcus scaled skin syndrome during Thanksgiving. The pain and discomfort he felt was extreme. As a parent, it is the hardest thing to see your child in pain and not be able to take that pain away. Given his condition, my husband and I weren't even able to hug or give him any physical emotional support. As a nurse, to not be able to provide comfort to your suffering patient is heartbreaking. Sam never stopped advocating and working for my son from the moment she stepped into our room. With her help, after two days of suffering, we were finally able to give my son relief from his pain. At the moments when we felt the most defeated and lost, Sam was our support and saving grace. Her kindness and compassion helped us make it through. Knowing that she was helping take care of our son gave us peace.

Being a nurse for over a decade myself, I could only imagine how she was feeling and what she was going through on the other side of our room door. However, she never let it show. If she was in our room she was present. She is the definition of what it means to be a great nurse. Whether it was running around paging the doctor, getting purple Powerade and chocolate ice cream for my son, endlessly supplying my husband and me with coffee, or spending over an hour in our room attempting to care for and comfort my son -- she did it holistically with compassion, kindness, and strength. It is nurses like her who are the backbone of this career. We are lucky to have Sam caring for our tiniest and most precious population.