My 3-year-old son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at CHLA over Easter weekend this year. As a parent who has no health conditions, you just feel so helpless and wish you could trade places with your child. We continue to grieve a normal childhood for him and constantly worry about the complications he may face. My husband and I are both nurses working in primary care. We both do not have experience caring for children with type 1 diabetes, so this was a huge learning experience for us.

Will is the nurse manager assigned to us for our son’s care. Will has been nothing short of amazing. He has answered every question and addressed every concern with such kindness, compassion, and empathy. Even though he knows we are healthcare professionals, we appreciate his strong desire to teach in order to ensure safety. He truly has a heart of gold.

My son just started his insulin pump a couple of days ago. I thought about contacting Will about high blood sugars while using the pump, but decided to wait it out to trust the process of the pump. So, I planned to contact Will in a couple of days instead. Because Will is an angel, he called today just to check on us, and now we have a plan to reevaluate the settings on Friday. Will goes out of his way to make sure his patients are doing well. He comes up with a plan and follows up with each intervention. Every encounter with Will is truly a blessing.