Andrew saved my father’s life.

My father had been admitted to the ER for neck surgery with a neurosurgeon and was recovering very well until events suddenly took a dramatic and unexpected turn.

My father started deteriorating rapidly. He went from walking and joking to suddenly starting to lose strength, and then all feeling and motion in his extremities. His voice and ability to speak began to fade very quickly. He was only able to speak in a faint whisper with much labor. His breathing was also affected and significantly labored, and soon he could only communicate with his eyes.

I raced into the hall to try to get support, and after some effort, was finally able to bring in some other nursing staff, however, it took time to convey the level of urgency to the new nurses who are not familiar with my dad’s case since his care team was not immediately available.

It was clear that the situation was serious, and with a number of different medical professionals in the room, there were a lot of desperate activities going on while people were trying to figure things out and stabilize my father.

When Andrew came on the scene, he exuded a calm, knowledgeable confidence that cut right to the heart of what was needed without being overbearing or demanding.

He quickly commanded the situation, enabled the other members of the staff to focus on the right activities and was able to take quick action which directly resulted in saving my father’s life.

Thanks to Andrew.

My father was quickly triaged, and the necessary activities were conducted in order to get him to where he needed to be, which eventually was a subsequent emergency late-night surgery.

Andrew’s quick action, in no uncertain terms, saved my father’s life.

Fortunately, my father did survive and the last clear thing my father remembers before blacking out was Andrew’s reassuring face understanding the gravity of the situation, taking charge and making sure that my father was going to be all right.

The next day Andrew sought out my father to make sure he was okay and conveyed that he didn’t sleep all night because he was thinking about my dad, whom he didn’t even know.

He was worried about a complete stranger and told us that he was second-guessing his activities and wondering if he did everything quickly enough and correctly enough.

We were so moved to hear this - that someone who acted so professionally and expediently also mentally took my father home with him that night in his mind and told us that he could not rest until he heard the outcome of the surgery was positive and that my father was going to be okay.

The fact that he came to visit my father and convey his gratitude that he pulled through demonstrates the kind of person that Andrew is.

My family truly owes everything to Andrew, and we cannot recommend him strongly enough for this award.