April is National Donate Life Month | A Letter from a PICU Nurse

Dear family of a sweet childhood hero,

When I became a Pediatric Intensive Care Nurse 9 years ago, I didn’t know that I could experience such joy and heartache all in one moment.

The heartache that I feel is nowhere near the heartache you’re feeling. The decisions your family has had to make are not easy. From choosing which parts of your baby’s body will be life-giving, to deciding when to say your good-byes. These choices are ones that make your angel babe a hero and so much more.

I feel honored to walk alongside you during these decisions no mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, or sibling should have to be asked to make.

You let me wash your sweet babe’s body, give you their perfect footprint, clip a section of their hair, and helped you pick out a song that brings your family joy as we walk down the long hallway to the operating room.

I feel honored in a way that I can’t even put words to. Thank you for allowing me to be there, to hold you up in the moments your body is unable to, to care for your angel babe, and to help you through some of those moments that are a horrid waking nightmare.

You’ve not only made a decision that forever impacts your family, but you have made a decision that will forever impact another. You’re turning your heartache into joy and giving life to another sweet infant that otherwise wouldn’t have had the opportunity to live.

Thank you for making such a selfless choice. Thank you for allowing this PICU nurse to be there. I made a promise to you that I would not leave your sweet babe in the OR until the retrieval surgery was over and I stood by that. Praying, pleading, and asking God to comfort you and the family that was on the receiving end.

Your family has forever impacted this PICU nurse as a mama, friend, and nurse. Thank you for your bravery, your incredible gift of life, your love, and the strength that you’ve shown.

Your forever cheerleader,

Your PICU RN