Our son decided to make his appearance in the world about 8 weeks early. While it has been an extremely taxing and scary time, the nursing staff in the NICU have been an absolute ray of sunshine in our journey to get our little man home. Among an absolutely amazing set of nurses, Laurie Burrell really stood out to us. She constantly greeted us with a smile when we came to visit over those weeks.

One day, in particular, comes to mind when her positive demeanor was even more of a welcome reprieve. Our son had suffered a setback in regards to being weaned from oxygen. My wife and I were feeling particularly down about the prospect of him spending more time at the hospital before going home. When we walked into the unit that morning to sit with him, as we had most days, Laurie was waiting for us in his room with a giant smile and encouraging words about his progress thus far. My wife immediately reached out and hugged her and I could see the stress melt from her shoulders. Laurie is truly incredible!