I cannot adequately express my gratitude for RN Cherrelle and her extraordinary care and compassion, but because recognition for those instances when someone (often a stranger) so profoundly affects one's life is important on a deeply personal and meaningful level, I will try. I was in the midst of an emotional breakdown at the clinic, I was in such despair and felt utterly hopeless. I did not believe anyone could help me, and indeed felt that the structures of bureaucracy would never let anything change for the better. Honestly, if one more person came at me with one of those "emotional scale" questionnaires I was going to lose it completely (I understand their value and bureaucratic necessity, but it was the opposite of what I needed at the time). I felt alienated, adrift, hopeless, and utterly alone in my pain and despair. But Cherrelle's manner and sincerity from the very first moment were genuine, and I immediately felt like a human being and not a burden or another load of paperwork. I cannot express the absolute foundational necessity of just feeling, knowing, that the nurse or doctor interacting with me intrinsically views me as a person and not a time slot or medical accounting number or list of questions to get answers to. I was so completely vulnerable in my pain and hopelessness, and Cherrelle by being present and genuine and bringing her lived experiences and abilities and empathy to our interaction helped me feel better when I could very easily have felt worse (in fact, I was expecting to feel worse, I was expecting to give up on a system I did not believe was able to help me).

Cherrelle's kindness and ability to truly listen, her capacity to make me feel heard, seen, and understood, was truly and completely profound, important, everything... I don't have words that can fully express the relief and gratitude I feel that Cherrelle was my nurse that day. I believe she saved my life. I do not know where my mind would have gone had I not had such a caring, sincere, understanding person come to my aid at that moment. She came with genuine human compassion and professionalism when I needed it most. I will never, never forget the care I received that day.

My deepest and most sincere gratitude to you, Cherrelle. Thank you. Thank you for being you. Thank you for seeing me as a human, too.