This Veteran was diagnosed with cancer, in severe pain, and entered hospice care at the VA in Madison, Wisconsin. This Veteran would tell me and anyone he talked to that he was getting the best care in the world in the honor wing of the CLC, and he was! I’d come into his room and see notes on the nightstand about his CPAP machine needing to have the reservoir refilled around 4:30 a.m. because it would typically run dry about that time; that’s how attentive Nancy was. She’d come in multiple times in the night to peek on him, much like a new mother would do, watching over her child as they slept. One night, the Veteran had severe tremors and was in increasingly more pain. Nancy came in and pre-emptively put an IV in his arm so that the nurse coming in on the next shift could administer pain medication intravenously if needed and ease his pain quicker. Nancy was so gentle that he didn’t flinch in pain or even wake up; she just had a magic touch!

This Veteran had one such exceptional nurse in Nancy. Nancy answered all his questions about death and dying and what to expect and what could and could not be done with honesty, empathy, and grace. She eased his anxious mind and calmed his fearful heart. He slept so much better all the nights he knew she was on duty. He knew he was in the next best thing to God’s hands from the moment she arrived with her upbeat smile, can-do attitude, humor, reassurance, and straightforward, honest approach to everything. She reminded him of his mother, who worked all her life as a pediatric nurse, and understood what a special, strong woman it took to do this job in hospice, much like his mother, who would often rock babies and hold them gently until they died in her arms.

Nancy was beyond attentive and spoke to this Veteran as a dear friend, one who genuinely cared and felt what he felt. She was equally kind to me all the days and nights I was there. She made sure that all my questions and concerns, no matter how big or small, were passed on to the nurse practitioner and addressed. The evening of the Veteran’s passing, Nancy came floating into his room unexpectedly; it wasn’t a day she was working. She’d left word, unbeknownst to us, with her colleagues to call her if she wasn’t there when his time was close. She came to the hospital, to his bedside, in the cold and the snow to be on the other side of the bed from me and hold his other hand as he “journeyed on,” as she called it, to heaven. She cried with me and comforted me; she hugged me and was there for us when we needed her most! She wasn’t there because she was on duty, she was there because she cared; because she’d developed a bond with the Veteran, with me…with all of us…because she’s exceptional! The Veteran’s dying wish was for Nancy to be recognized for being an extraordinary nurse and an exceptional woman! It was clear to him, and it’s clear to me that for Nancy, service is lifelong…it’s above and beyond the call of duty…it’s being there…at the darkest…hardest…most difficult times…when someone needs you most…it’s putting the needs of others above your own…that’s true service! The Veteran always used to say, “that it’s more fun to hang out with the givers than the takers” and Nancy is a giver!