There are too many examples to even list. Gabby has loved and cared for my daughter (5 months old) her entire life, all of which she has spent in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Here are just a few ways in which Gabby has gone so far above and beyond duty to help my daughter and me:

• Advocating and arranging a special exception with social work enabling me to accompany my elderly parents, including my mom with advanced dementia, to visit with my daughter.

• Always organizing my daughter’s room and keeping everything tidy and welcoming (esp. breast milk storage and creating handy paper sheets for my daughter’s glucose-insulin).

• Thinking critically about my daughter’s care plan and advocating to help get her what she needs to thrive.

• Helping me hold my daughter for the first time.

• Decorating my daughter’s room for holidays to make it feel more like home to all of us.

• Spending any spare time she might have (which I know is scarce and precious) playing with my daughter, talking to and interacting with her.

• Always being there to capture special family moments for us, like the first time I held my daughter, the first time she met her brother, and the first time she ever went outside (to the healing garden!).

• Making me special mementos to treasure forever, like a holiday ornament with my daughter’s hat inside, a timeline of special milestones, and hand & footprint art. The handprints are extra special because my daughter lost the fingertips on her right hand; Gabby thought to capture them before they were completely gone.

This nomination is very overdue after 5+ months of amazing care.