I was flown to Oahu for emergency medical treatment and ended up being admitted for over 2 weeks. Because I am a cancer patient, I was roomed on the oncology unit. Throughout my stay, I was blown away by the care provided by the team of nurses on this unit, but one in particular went above and beyond every time she was assigned as my nurse for the shift. She became my advocate to ensure that I was getting the care I needed, and the doctors were addressing the issues that came up.

On one particular morning, I had reached my breaking point. I was angry because I had just had a doctor essentially tell me there was nothing anyone else would do and that I should basically go home and be put on palliative care. This was before interventional radiology, or my liver doctor was consulted. When Brandi came in, she listened to my frustration and proceeded to go out to their discharge planning meeting and communicate what was going on.

She gave me a voice to the broader team. When I did get the consultations that I needed, she stayed on top of the team to track when my procedures would be and constantly communicated with me any and all updates. She even intervened when they were going to transfer me to another unit, which would have required a transfer back later to receive the chemo I needed.

Being on a different island was truly scary at times because I did not have family around and was alone a lot. Brandi made it a point to make me not feel so alone. She took time to talk to me throughout my stay and truly became my biggest advocate. I cannot thank her enough for her compassion and the care she provided.