The Patient I'll Never Forget

The patient I'll never forget isn't actually a patient.

I've been a Registered Nurse for nearly 30 years, and over those decades I've cared for thousands of people. I've been present during some incredibly difficult moments. I've watched patients fight for their lives, celebrated recoveries, experienced the heartbreak of losing patients in my care and attempting to comfort those who lost their loved ones. Those experiences shaped me.

But when I really think about why I became a nurse, my mind goes somewhere else.

It goes home... I grew up with a terminally ill sibling. Long before I wore scrubs or carried a stethoscope, I was learning what it meant to care for another person. I learned medications. I learned therapy techniques. I learned how to coordinate care. I learned to pay attention to the little things.

More importantly, I learned compassion.

I learned that illness doesn't affect just the person with the diagnosis. It affects families, relationships, hopes, routines, and the way people see their future.

And I learned something else: for someone isn't simply about treating what's wrong. It's about listening to their story, holding space for their thoughts and feelings with compassion and helping them live the best life possible with what they have.

I think that lesson followed me into nursing.

For nearly three decades, I've had the privilege of caring for people in some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. But as my career has evolved, so has my vision of what healthcare can look like.

Today, I'm moving toward health and wellness coaching because I want to help people before the crisis. I want to help people understand their health, identify what they can change, build sustainable habits, and feel empowered rather than defeated by a diagnosis.

I don't want to simply help people live longer. I want to help people live better and create a life they love. That's what drew me to health coaching. It's not a departure from nursing. In many ways, it's a return to the reason I became a nurse in the first place.

To care.

To educate.

To advocate.

To empower.

And ultimately, to help people move beyond surviving to live their best lives. I want to help them THRIVE.

Maybe the patient I'll never forget isn't one particular patient at all. Maybe it's every person who has taught me why this work matters so much.

And I'm incredibly grateful for every one of them.