My boyfriend, H, was on the heart transplant list, and last July 2023, he was admitted for a life-saving device implant so that he could live to receive a heart. He and I had no time to cope, as it was an emergency admission. The surgery took several hours longer than expected, and by the time I got to see him, he was an absolute mess. I was terrified and went home feeling sick. I came back in the morning and immediately met the new nurse, Haley.

I think she could tell how scared we were because she sat down with us and answered a thousand questions. She ensured that everything she did for H was explained thoroughly, and she did it all with a huge smile. We got to have her for five days in a row, and she was absolutely phenomenal. To encourage H to walk, she would play his favorite Metallica and Lynyrd Skynyrd songs down the hall. She took the time to understand H and his pain levels. He doesn’t feel pain normally and doesn’t respond to medication normally, but she worked with him until they found a way to make him comfortable. She was also the first to take him outside, which made him feel significantly better, and she did this every day, as her schedule allowed.

She was incredibly accommodating and patient with us, and I don’t know how we would have managed those first few days without her. The best part was that even when we started getting different nurses, she still came in every single day, sometimes multiple times, to check on him and often took the time to clarify his treatment and answer more questions. The day H received his new heart, I was still on my way to the hospital, but Haley made sure she was there with him when he got the news. I will be forever grateful for her support.

While H was being prepped for surgery and then taken back, his father decided to book a plane ticket and fly in, and I had to arrange an Uber for him, which was more than I could handle mentally at the time. Haley took my phone, booked the Uber, and got him to the hospital. My favorite part, and the one that truly showed Haley’s character, was that during the week H was in the ICU after the transplant, she still made time every day to check on him.

Post-op day one, I was an absolute mess - nobody would listen to me about my pain levels. She stopped by and could already tell how bad it was. She reminded us that she had made plenty of notes in his chart about his pain management, so we could push further if it happened again. Haley went out, found his nurse, and had his meds corrected in ten minutes. After he moved out of the ICU, she didn’t visit as often, but we would walk down to her, and she always took the time to talk with him and check on his well-being.

I’ll never forget when he was discharged. She called me and apologized because she really wanted to be there with him. She told H how proud she was of how far he had come and that she’d be here if he ever needed anything. But that wasn’t enough. Sometime in November, he was re-hospitalized for a rejection episode, and I thought maybe she could cheer H up. After I called her unit, I think she must have run up the stairs because she was there immediately, all smiles, hugs, and checking in to make sure he was okay or needed anything. He was there for four days, and she was there every morning with a cup of coffee before her shift.

On a personal note, I am not even the patient, and that woman still helped me get through some of the darkest times. There were at least one or two times I was hiding from H and crying. She found me and simply let me get it out. Haley has an immense amount of patience, incredible understanding of her field, and a wonderful way of handling panicked people. I will never have enough words to express my gratitude for everything. I’ve said many times over the last 16 months that if it weren’t for her, I don’t know where H’s mental health would have been during those 27 days.