My Mom was dying but we didn’t know it yet. Mom had been in a terrible car accident one evening and was a patient in our Trauma Bay and then SICU. She had some very extensive injuries, and the plan was to take her to surgery the following morning. While in the Trauma Bay, twice she experienced the “sense of impending doom.” She looked at me with true terror on her face and said, “Sissy, I don’t feel so good. Something’s not right, I don’t feel right.” About that time her blood pressure would read 70/40. Both times she received a bolus of IV fluid and she felt a little better after.

When we arrived in SICU, her admitting nurse did a terrific job of simultaneously caring for and comforting Mom, while asking me all the admission questions. Shortly after, the feeling of doom and terror happened twice more. The first time her nurse responded quickly to bolus her IV again and comfort my Mom. The second time, the nurse said, “I don’t like this, something isn’t right.” She immediately called the Trauma team to evaluate. They decided not to wait until morning, but to take her in for emergency surgery that night.

My Mom was dying and Marybeth saved my Mom’s life. She was bleeding internally and her bowel was dying. Her quick response and insistence that the team reconsider their course of treatment gave me more time with my Mom.

Ultimately, Mom passed away three days later as a result of her injuries. But Marybeth gave me three days with my Mom – three days I wouldn’t have had without her quick action. Three days to process what was happening. Three days to call family to the bedside to be there and say goodbye. Three days to prepare myself and be at peace with what was happening.

Those three days meant the world to me, and I will always be so grateful to her for those three days with my Mom