Michele Renee Coder, RN, BSN

When I brought my 17-year-old daughter to the Emergency Department, I wasn't simply seeking medical care. I was desperately searching for someone who could help save her life.

My daughter was battling fentanyl addiction, and after previous emergency visits, we found ourselves trapped in a heartbreaking cycle. I was terrified that if something didn't change, I would lose her.

What made that day even more difficult was the shame and fear I carried with me. I worried we would be judged. Instead, Renee met us with compassion, dignity, and kindness. She didn't see a teenager defined by addiction or a mother who had failed. She saw a family in crisis that needed help.

Renee listened without judgment, believed what I was telling her, and refused to give up. She recognized that my daughter needed more than a brief emergency visit and worked tirelessly to arrange a transfer to Children's Mercy, where my daughter could safely detox and begin treatment. Because of Renee's determination, my daughter was finally given the chance to start her recovery journey.

What Renee didn't know was that while I was fighting to save my daughter, I was unknowingly fighting for my own life. Once I knew my daughter was safe and receiving care, I was finally able to seek treatment for myself. Doctors discovered a life-threatening vascular infection, and additional testing led to a diagnosis of Stage IIIB breast cancer.

If Renee had not fought so relentlessly for my daughter, I never would have left her side to seek medical treatment. Her actions changed the course of two lives.

She chose compassion over convenience, advocacy over dismissal, and action over hesitation. She took the time to truly see us and hear what others had missed.

Today, I have the privilege of working in the Emergency Department and seeing Renee care for patients every day. The compassion, advocacy, and kindness she showed my family were not unique to us. They are simply who she is.

My daughter will soon celebrate two years of sobriety. Recovery is the result of many people coming together, but every recovery story has a beginning. Ours began the day Renee refused to let us leave without the help she knew my daughter needed.

On one of the darkest days of our lives, Renee chose to listen, to care, and to fight for us. Our family is still here because she did.