Stephanie was assigned to a patient who was involved in a motor vehicle accident. Her family was scattered between the Medical Center and the Children's Hospital. Stephanie had established a relationship with her patient and, unfortunately, was present when the husband had to tell the patient that their second child had been declared brain dead. The first child, who was the youngest of three, had died at the scene of the accident. The amount of compassion that Stephanie had for this mom was unbelievable. Stephanie carefully, quietly, and boldly explained what was going on with the patient’s condition and her child’s prognosis.

 There were a lot of challenges with this patient.  Some of these were a religious obstacle, multiple family dynamics, another was the health of the patient herself, which was not looking good, and the last was knowing her youngest child had died at the scene of the accident. As this mother's health declined rapidly, Stephanie and the charge nurse worked very hard to honor and respect this patient's religious beliefs, never judging her but also working around the family dynamics so the patient would not be judged by her family. They did this in a very dignified way for all. The patient made some improvement, and they were able to arrange for the mother to visit her middle child, who was in the ICU and had previously been on a ventilator but was getting better and now extubated.

Stephanie also worked with the virtual nurses to video chat with her two sons at Children’s Hospital.  During the video chat, Mom was able to hear her middle child tell her that he loved her, and she could tell her oldest son she loved him. She and her husband chose to give the gift of life to others and turn this tragedy into a celebration for other families through organ donation.  The next day, Stephanie and the charge nurse accompanied the patient to the children's hospital when she was stable enough to make the trip. They took her to visit her middle child, who continued to get better. The mother was able to visit the oldest child, who had his 15th birthday less than 24 hours before.  She was able to say her goodbyes, but due to her condition, she was too tired to participate in the walk of honor. She asked Stephanie if she would do the honor and walk with her son to the OR in her absence.  There were a lot of emotions and tears during the four days of this event. Stephanie was the exact nurse this mother needed at that exact moment. It was an honor to watch Stephanie during this time.