Our family was honored and blessed to have Shanna by our side to guide us as we experienced our father's end-of-life care at Monument Hospital. She always referred to our dad as "Mr. X," which made him smile as she entered the room. Shanna shared our pain as she eased our family through the end-of-life process and always stayed with us as long as we needed to talk. We felt like we were the most important people in her care for those final days, and her kindness was evident in every encounter. Shanna laughed with us as we shared our memories of our dad, sitting with our mother as she told stories of their decade-long marriage. It amazed us that someone could have that much compassion for a man and his family that she had just met.

Each time she came into the room, she checked on our well-being. We knew that any question we had would be answered with gentle truthfulness. Shanna walked us through the stages of dying and prepared us as our father left our world. We trusted her with the most important thing in our life...our father. When our time at Monument Hospital was finished, our family left Shanna with hugs and tears. As we struggled through the heartbreak of death, we were fortunate to have a nurse who was passionate about life care for us. As my dad (who could be a challenge at times!) said, as Shanna was working with him, "I like this one!" It is impossible to convey our gratitude for this angel in a nurse's uniform. It is our deepest honor to nominate Shanna for the DAISY Award.