I will never forget this selfless act of kindness. When I worked as a cardiac educator, my job was to instruct patients before they had open heart surgery and give discharge instructions classes. One morning, at the same time that one of our 70 year old patients was prepped and in Surgery for heart by-pass surgery, a 15 year old boy was brought into the ER. He was in an auto accident. A CT Scan on the boy confirmed a life-threatening tear in his aorta, the largest blood vessel in the body. He needed surgery immediately.

I was called to inform the 70 year old patient’s wife that we wanted to postpone her husband’s surgery to the following day, even though he was already under anesthesia, and would be sent to Recovery without having his by-pass. When I told her about the situation with the 15 year old boy, she agreed immediately. I’m happy to say that both patients survived their surgeries. Two days later I had the privilege of introducing the two patients in my discharge class. As the 15 year old thanked the 70 year old for allowing him to have his surgery spot, there were tears streaming down everyone’s faces. The two families exchanged phone numbers and kept in touch after surgery. During my follow-up phone calls to both families, they each expressed their gratitude for being in the right place at the right time. Even the cardiovascular surgeon agreed that divine intervention was in place for all of the timing to have been perfect. I was grateful to have been a part of the care for both patients. It reminded me again of why I love nursing.