Our daughter, R, was born just over 6 weeks premature and was a patient in the NICU for 16 days. During our stay in the NICU, Ellie was our nurse for several days and made the difficult circumstances of having our daughter in the NICU more enjoyable. Ellie was so compassionate and so helpful to my husband and me. She helped us understand each of the milestones our daughter needed to hit to be discharged, and was so informative and caring when showing us how to care for our daughter during her stay. She was always so attentive and kind when answering questions about our daughter's care. She was so helpful and encouraging when it came to trying to breastfeed, and helpful with learning how to pace R's feeds when moving from being tube-fed to bottle.

Ellie was just so sweet to talk to and a listening ear, sharing her own stories about her own daughter during those long hours at the hospital every day. We really looked forward to coming into the hospital and hearing that Ellie was R's nurse for the day. She truly made the long days easier and someone my husband and I will always remember. Ellie was R's nurse on the day of discharge, and while we were ecstatic to go home, I cried, hugging Ellie goodbye as she made such a difference for our family while in the NICU, and we are forever grateful for her kindness during that time.