I first met Rich a few years ago when I was hospitalized for five weeks at the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. I arrived at midnight via helicopter from my local hospital, which is two and a half hours away by car. It was all very confusing and traumatic. It was during this first hospital stay that Rich became my primary inpatient nurse and a ray of sunshine during my initial hospitalization.

Since then, I have had three more extended stays in the hospital, one for four months for a stem cell transplant, another for three months for GvHD, and another extended stay after relapse. Rich continued to brighten even the darkest days. I did not arrive under normal circumstances, and he understood the trauma. In that moment and until today, we share a real bond.

Richard went above and beyond. He took the time to listen to the doctors and me and translate when necessary. He worked wonderfully with his coworkers and always came into my room with a positive attitude and a smile. He was an advocate for my well-being, both emotionally and medically. I will never forget his attentiveness to my state of mind. We both have an active sense of humor, and having that to share was critical to my well-being.

Rich knows me, my husband, my friends, and my family. He has given three years of consistent love and care to all of us. There are too many specifics to mention here, but one of the sweetest is that Rich would always refer to my husband and me as “the newlyweds” while we held hands and walked the halls for exercise. “And there are the newlyweds,” he would announce, even though we have been married for 30 years. It made us feel strong, supported, and seen.

When spending extended time in the hospital, I cannot express enough how important it is to have such a constant, friendly face to meet you where you are on a daily basis. The doctors saved my life, but Rich saved my sanity. That is no small thing, and in my experience, it is the definition of excellence in nursing.