At 7 days old, our son was helicoptered to Westchester Medical Center from our local ER because he stopped breathing and turned blue. It was a heart-wrenching experience. We live about an hour and a half from the hospital. On the second day of our son being there, Christine was our nurse, and my husband asked her if there were priests who worked in the hospital. She was able to get a priest to come to our room and bless our son. The following day, the priest conducted a baptism because we weren't sure what would happen after the initial episode. Christine acted as our witness and also signed the paperwork as his godmother! We didn't formally ask her to be a godmother, but it was part of the required paperwork that needed to be filled out by the priest and sent to our church back home. Without hesitation, Christine didn't ask questions or do anything that was asked. We joked afterward about if she was even religious, and it turns out that we grew up with the same beliefs.

Christine only spent a few days with our son (she was assigned to someone new when she returned back after her weekend), but within those few days we chatted a lot, she gave us comfort, and we had hours of conversations that made time pass by. A few days after she was no longer our nurse, she came to our room with a gift bag. She got a few gifts for our son to welcome him into the world. This was such an amazing moment for our family because she treated our son like family. I will forever be grateful for her kindness - the tissues she brought me as I sat next to his crib crying and her kind daily words letting us know it was all going to be ok. And it was! We were discharged a few weeks later.

Christine went above and beyond for her patient, my son, and I will always think of her as a light in a time full of darkness and uncertainty. I wish every nurse were exactly like Christine. Hospitals would be better places all around.