We have never been more grateful Cailin was assigned to and became one of our son’s core nurses for his four month stay in the CVICU before he passed away. The second day she had him, his heart stopped, and she immediately sprung into action and pumped his heart for him (his chest was open from surgery a few days prior so she had direct access to it), and so began our 4 month journey with her at our side. We always knew our son was in the best hands when she was working with him on any given day. We entered the unit knowing very little and exited with so much knowledge, thanks to her explanations. She made us feel comfortable asking her questions and always explained things so that we could understand them. After daily rounds, she would break down everything that was talked about into terms we could understand - what the plan of the day was, what was going on with him, what medications he was on, and what they did. Eventually, we got to the point where we were knowledgeable enough to understand rounds and have input ourselves. Oftentimes, we’d wait until we had Cailin as a nurse again to ask a question since she was easy to talk to, and we trusted her knowledge. Our son kept her quite busy her first weeks with him, and yet she never left his side - not even to check her work email. We are so grateful for the attention she bestowed upon him and the care she provided, and we even felt comfortable leaving him for a couple of hours for a wedding since she said she’d sit right by his bed while we were gone.

Our journey was not an easy one, but he slowly started to improve, and our lives were changed for the better when Cailin brought him on his first wagon ride. That was a game-changer for him. Maybe it was the rhythmic motion, the change of scenery, or the chance to be out of his bed, but he loved the wagon, and it became the highlight of each of his days. Not only did Cailin walk with us during his tenuous beginning days, which turned into weeks, and then months after his surgery, when she heard of his cardiac arrest 4 months later, she came in over the next days (on her days off - after working 4 days straight), just to check on him. She then took it a step further and picked up shifts on her week off to be with him during his final days.

There is no one we would have rather had to walk with us during those days. I don’t know how she held herself together as well as she did, but we are so grateful for her compassion, love, and care. It’s always frightening meeting a nurse for the first time because you never know who you are going to get, but we are so thankful we met Cailin. Whoever has her as a nurse in the future should consider themselves lucky because it would be hard to find a better bedside nurse to care for you.