National Nurses Week begins each year on May 6th and ends on May 12th, Florence Nightingale’s birthday.
Think about it… every time you visit a doctor’s office or hospital, you see a nurse. If you happen to be a patient in a hospital on a holiday, there will be nurses there to take care of you. If you have trouble understanding what the doctor is telling you, a nurse will clarify it for you. Now, think about how many times you must visit doctor’s offices and hospitals if a family member happens to have a complicated rare disease.
My daughter Kelley had numerous hospitalizations during her life due to her rare disease. In fact, I would be hard pressed at this point to count how many times she was a hospital patient or how many times nurses visited our home to help us with her care. As I think back about the course of her life, I know we wouldn’t have made it through many situations without the help of the nursing profession.
We need to remember that nurses put their own emotional needs on hold while caring for us and our loved ones.
About the Author: Denise Crompton and her husband Bob, raised four children, the oldest of whom, Kelley, had the rare disease of Mucolipidosis 3. The many years that they spent caring for Kelley prompted Denise to write two books. Kelley’s Journey: Facing a Rare Disease with Courage chronicles their own daughter’s experiences. Diagnosis: Rare Disease includes some of the experiences of 12 more families, and was written to help raise awareness of all that is involved in living with rare conditions. All of Denise’s royalties go toward rare disease research. The Cromptons live in New Hampshire, where they spend their retirement years enjoying their many grandchildren, while still reaching out to help families with rare diseases.
