Meghan came to our rescue as the snowstorm was coming in, and chaos was surrounding us. My mom was just recently moved to this unit from the oncology floor, she has been battling Leukemia (ALL) since 2018 so we are very familiar with our UMMC family and appreciate all of the ways they go above and beyond. But, as we got the call that we all needed to be there in case my mom did not make it through the weekend, we had to fly my sister up from SC at the last minute and pull as much together as we could.

My sister could not bring her children with her, and we were already trying to figure out accommodations as best we could for my health conditions, which require a lot, including dietary restrictions, as well as figure out what to do for my sister's breast milk, which she has dietary restrictions due to her daughter's dietary allergies. After asking what felt like a million people for help and their efforts being fruitless, as well as our own being fruitless, we were left feeling anxious and flustered. We were willing to put up with so much of the stress and inconvenience to just make it through the weekend, especially not knowing if it would be our last with our mother, but it felt like if we could just figure out a solution for my sister's breast milk then the load would be so much lighter since it was hard on all of us to deal with everything as well as not have the children as part of that weekend.

Well, every step I took out of that room throughout that chaotic day, Meghan was there to comfort and encourage me. She was not our room nurse, but went out of her way to offer a smile, ask if there was any way she could help, and listen to me when I needed to vent. I kept referring to her, lovingly, as my "emotional support nurse" to anyone and everyone I talked to about her.

Fast forward to the end of her shift, after a long and chaotic day, and she comes to check on me to ask if we figured out a solution. I informed her that we had a lead on a mini fridge and permission to bring one in, but then it ended up not working out so unfortunately my sister accepted that all of her breast milk would go to waste that weekend.

Meghan did not take that; she kindly and generously asked if it would be helpful if, after she got off, she could run home and bring in the mini fridge she had at home. This was hours before the snow was going to start falling, after she had worked all day and who knows how many days before that, and without any relation to us at this point, just pure kindness and compassion. Meghan did indeed drive home after having to stay well after 7, drive back to the hospital to deliver the mini fridge, and offer more encouragement and kind words to myself and my family. Saying she went above and beyond does not cover what she did.

We had so many nurses go above and beyond. We had techs, Respiratory therapists, every doctor we interacted with, and the nurse manager. We are very used to our oncology people, but MIMC did so much to step up and treat us like family. Meghan treated us like actual family. She did something that absolutely did not need to be done, and honestly, her care without going out of her way to bring her own mini fridge was enough for me to note her name to say something to someone about how kind she was, but this was a situation that needed to be mentioned even higher.

These nurses are the ones who really went out of their way to make this stay more comfortable and endurable for my mom, who felt very out of her element on this floor. They don't ask for anything; they genuinely all have the attitude of "it's why we do the job, why would I do it any other way?"