My son was born recently and he surprised us with a cleft palate. He was immediately taken to the NICU where he would spend the first 5 weeks of his life. To be in this situation is something I had never imagined and couldn't begin to fathom how difficult it would be. I started my twice-daily visits to NICU the day after I was discharged from the hospital. I spent most of my days there and was able to get to know the staff quite well. The entire NICU staff is absolutely amazing, however, one nurse, in particular, went truly above and beyond for my son and me. We had consulted all of the specialists and thought to have exhausted all of the resources that would help my son eat better. He had so much progress in these weeks, but just not enough to be able to come home. So, spending my days in NICU continued. I had gotten to know Erika pretty well since she was our nurse for many of the days we were there. She was extremely invested in my son and his progress, even deeming him her "boyfriend". She really does love him! As we were following all the recommendations and just hoping my son would continue his slow progress without the need for surgery to insert a feeding tube, Erika took it upon herself to do her own research on other options for feeding babies with cleft plates. She spent so much time at work with him and then went home and continued. She consulted support groups and NICU blogs asking if anyone had any other suggestions or options that we hadn't tried. From these suggestions, she researched how to purchase a specialized bottle that seems to be mostly used in the UK. She brought this information to work and shared it with me and all the physicians and specialists to see if it was worth a try. When no one opposed it, she even offered to order and purchase the specialized bottle on her own. At this point, I had reluctantly accepted that my son would probably need to get the surgery for a G tube insertion and to be perfectly honest, didn't think a different bottle would make much of a difference. Well, I was wrong! I ordered the bottle after Erika was able to find where it was available and it ended up making a huge difference in how much my son was able to eat. We were able to take him home within the week of getting the bottle thanks to Erika's dedication to her job and my son.

It takes a special person to be a nurse. It takes a very special person to be a NICU nurse. Erica absolutely embodies this. She is dedicated, supportive, honest, encouraging, helpful, and kind, not to mention very good at her job. In being there for so long, I watched her exhibit all of these traits to multiple other patients and families. I consider my family lucky to have been under her care for so many weeks and am not sure that we would be home right now without her. She deserves this award for so many reasons as I am sure my story is just one of the many that portray her dedication. I am so thankful that our paths crossed and even though my son can't express it yet, he is too!