My dad - the person that was the best bonus dad a girl could have, the selfless man that raised me like his own and never made feel like nothing less, the man that fought cancer and beat the statistics that the surgeons gave him, the man that raised his grandsons, and the one that always made sure we had rituals for special occasions so we had memories like he had as a kid. Well that great person came to his final days and he spent them in ICU COVID. He knew he was never going to come out, he knew something was wrong, and he knew that his fight was about to be over. Well he was right, he couldn’t breathe by himself, he couldn’t and wouldn’t eat/drink, my dad had no energy. He was so scared that he wouldn’t reach out to his family because then it would become too real. I was so heart broken that he was so stubborn that he wouldn’t just answer his phone. But here comes Nurse Ashley - the person I talked to twice a day. The person that made sure to take time out of her busy day to call me back. The person who gave him sweet encouraging words to make him want to fight for his life. The person that went through his phones to show him pictures of his best memories, told him how much his family loves him, and made sure to make him feel like he had one person he knew that cared about him on a day to day basis since his family couldn’t be there during due the protocol. He didn’t make it. His fight came to an end. Losing a parent isn’t easy like I imagined, but actually going through it, I can tell you it isn’t. But know that Ashley was the one person that was so selfless, kind, and so compassionate with him makes this easier to process. Months later, I remember to this day. I thanked her every day while my dad was in the hospital, I thank her everyday when I pray to God and my dad, and I’ll thank here every day from that day on out because she played such a big part of his life and mine. There won’t be a day that goes by that she won’t be appreciated. UTMB League City Campus is lucky to have someone like her.