I was taken for the second time in 3 weeks to A+E by wonderful paramedics, who did their best to make sure that the reams of EKG recordings they had taken from my heart, were going to be seen by the right department due to heart block apparently being difficult to diagnose if not captured in the moment. After being left in a wheelchair in the A&E waiting room for hours, I was finally taken to a side room and placed on a monitor. The staff were amazing, but busy and they were being verbally and physically abused. It was very distressing to witness and I was so upset and worried about my own health, I’d unfortunately worked myself into a bit of an emotional, tearful wreck.

In walked an Angel… A nurse in dark blue, she was small, petite, and had the most beautiful calming energy. “Hi T, I’m Faye. I’ve spoken to the paramedics, I know your history, I’ve looked through notes, I can see exactly what’s happened to you, I know what’s wrong with your heart and you are coming with me as soon as I get you a bed on my ward." I burst into tears with relief and a bit of disbelief, due to being discharged weeks previously. “T, I promise you, we will fix your heart and we won’t be letting you go home without a pacemaker and without you feeling 100%.”

Now I’m an educational professional, I know never to make promises to clients, if there’s even the tiniest degree of ‘failing to deliver…’ Faye was clearly professional and as knowledgeable as she needed to be in that moment to make my life in those seconds look like it had a future, and with meaning, when saying it. To me, that speaks volumes about the trust and insight Faye and her whole team in the Cardiology department must have for each other. I’m a 49-year-old woman, with accidental pink hair, my granddaughter's unicorn eye mask on my head, visibly upset and crying, very late into the night, on a bed, yet Faye stood very close, holding my hand, full eye contact, with care and reassuring words & tones that have been proven to be true, as I lie here now writing this from my bed on the CCU ward about to have a much-needed pacemaker fitted.

It may not seem amazingly wonderful to those that read this, as to the impact Faye’s words and actions had on me that night. Faye without a doubt will not be aware of her impact on me either, as I’m yet to see her since that fleeting moment! I’d like Faye to know that her very actions light a candle to the beautiful stories of Nurse Nightingale, that my generation and many before all grew up listening to. The stories that inspired many a person to take up this profession. You were my very own Nightingale that night Faye. Thank you so much.