My daughter was born earlier this year, and after 19 “normal” healthy days at home, we brought her into the clinic due to some concerning spots on her legs. We thought that we were overreacting by bringing her in for evaluation, but were shocked to find out that she had an extremely rare infant leukemia, and she was hospitalized very quickly. Within 30 minutes of being admitting to the heme/onc floor, she was rapid-responsed to the PICU, and spent 5-6 days there. While everyone on her care team was absolutely incredible, Chrissy was her primary day shift nurse and cared for her on three of our 5 full day shifts. Chrissy somehow managed to achieve the perfect balance of being present for us at a moment’s notice while also giving us the space we needed at times to process what was happening or spend time with family. She was always available for questions, took the time to ask us to see photos of her before she got sick, and learned what was important to us. She was also very knowledgeable, and always seemed on top of what was needed for her care. That first day, she searched around to scrounge up a “sticky bow” to put on her head around her EEG leads that made her look more like a little baby girl instead of a sick hospital patient. The next day, she brought in a new sticky bow that she made herself so that we would have options. This was by no means necessary for her, but she took the time to bring in that bow, and even bought us a book that we could read to her as we sat at her bedside. She cared about the small details – and made sure she gave strict instructions to the night nurse to use the specific matching sheet set she had picked out to match our nursery colors. 

Our third day in the hospital, we found out that her massive brain bleed had resulted in significant unrecoverable brain damage, and we decided to not give her chemo and to keep her comfortable. That final night we spent in the hospital, I remember telling my husband that I hoped Chrissy would be back with us the next day as we had our final moments with her – and sure enough, she was. Chrissy came in that day with some lavender-scented Honest baby bath wash and shampoo, as well as some baby lotion. When I asked her about it, I found out that she had bought this on her own and had brought it in for us to give her last bath. She wanted to make sure we had something that smelled nice and didn’t just remind us of the hospital. This was so incredibly thoughtful, and it meant so much to me. Chrissy allowed me to be the one to give her this last bath, and she told me she’d be as involved or removed as I wanted her to be. She truly let me tell her what I needed. She got us a “big bed” that day for her room so that we could snuggle with her in one bed instead of just sitting next to her crib. That day, we had our extended family all come up for a brief time in pairs to say their final goodbyes. Chrissy had heard my dad express his worry that she would be uncomfortable earlier in her hospital stay – and when he left the room, she gave him a hug and reassured him that she would make sure she was comfortable up until her last breath. The fact that Chrissy had gotten to know our parents enough to put their minds at ease in these moments was so telling of her compassion, empathy, and care as a nurse. 

She died at 6:10 that night, and Chrissy gave us space and time to be with her after she passed. Her shift was supposed to end at 7:00 that night, but we found out later that Chrissy decided to stay until we left so that she could care for us and our daughter through the final moments in the PICU. She stayed after she should have gone home so that she could be the one to take her body down to the DCC. The last thing we decided to do before we left our daughter and the PICU was sit with her and listen to a song that one of our friends wrote about her. Before we did this, my husband asked if we should invite Chrissy to join us in this final moment with our daughter. We decided that after all we had gone through with Chrissy, it felt right to include her in that final moment. There are not many people whom we would invite to be there or who would want to be in that moment – but we are so grateful that Chrissy was there with us through the beginning of her hospital stay up until our final moments with her. Truthfully, there are no words to express just how grateful we are for all that Chrissy did for us – both noticed and unnoticed. Thank you, Chrissy, for the incredible care you provided to our daughter and to our family. We are eternally grateful.