To the Strangers Who Tried to Save My Desperately Ill Son

To the doctor who told me that she could fix my 11-month-old son’s reflux issue and patted my shoulder when I started crying from relief…

To the same doctor who cried with me the next day when my son was readmitted to the hospital and we didn’t know if he would survive…

To the team of doctors and nurses who tried to save my desperately ill son…

To the doctor who sadly told us there was nothing else to be done…

To the night nurse who gently rearranged Sammy on the bed so I could cuddle with him all night on his last night on Earth…

To the unit coordinators who strung beads on bracelets so our entire family could have SAMMY on our wrists…

To the person who came and took handprints and footprints of our baby boy…

To the day nurse who turned on a Christian radio station and reminded us to have hope…

To the same nurse who turned off the monitors and the medicines keeping our son alive, and wiped her own tears as she left the room so we could cuddle our baby as he left us…

You were all strangers to us, yet you showed such compassion and care. You made the worst weekend of our life the best it could have been. I don’t remember any of your names, yet I remember the love I felt as you cared for Sammy and our family.

Thank you doesn’t seem to be nearly enough, but it is all I have for you.

The Mighty is asking its readers the following: Describe the moment a stranger — or someone you don’t know very well — showed you or a loved one incredible love. If you’d like to participate, please send a blog post to community@themighty.com. Please include a photo for the piece, a photo of yourself and 1-2 sentence bio.

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