Ashley was the beam of light that kept me going. I had just been through a four-hour major surgery, leaving a foot-long incision and 24 staples, and she was amazing in helping me get through it.

Even though I was at a pain level 5, she encouraged me to get off the bed to do a weight check. Every milestone I reached, Ashley was there to encourage me and help me through it.

One night, Ashley was in charge of coordinating the other nurses on the floor (head nurse, charge nurse?), yet she made time to take me on my first walk around the floor. She held my hand while I was walking in pain.

We walked, and she listened to me talk about my wife's passing last year from a glioblastoma cancer. For 2 years prior, I took care of my wife - I did home hospice and saw other nurses help her, but never have I been the recipient of nursing care.

Ashley mentored many new nurses on procedures, where I was the patient receiving them. It was a 'full circle' moment for my perception of nursing - to see it from the other side, to see someone so buoyant and being a beaming joy to be with.

As one other nurse said, too, she's a beaming light. My surgery was the payload delivered to the launch pad (Ashley's floor) by the surgeons, but she got me to lift off into space and back into the real world again.

The other thing she helped manage was my roommate patient, who had invited their whole church congregation into my room (like 30 people). Even with a Portuguese language barrier, she was able to settle the situation down, and usher them out, so I could sleep.

Lastly, I had told her I was a geek, and when she reset my IV line, she brought out this high-tech device and let me help her find the new vein.

In short, she kept me involved with my own care (in a geeky way), as well as managing/mentoring other nurses, and still found space to walk me around the floor.

Just overall amazing on many levels.