DAISY Award—Michele Koth, MSN, RN

Kelly Yurkosky, BSN, RN, OCN, BMTCN
Davis 8 Oncology/BMTU

My sweet wife Sandy Cole spent over a hundred days off and on in Davis 8 in a hard fought battle with CML fighting to get into stem cell transplant. More often than not Kelly was her nurse. Kelly became a friend of the family and brought an extraordinary level of relief and comfort and enthusiasm each time she visited the room. Eventually Sandy lost most of her vision due to low platelets. Kelly would make sure Sandy had her hand on “Phunt” before she went off shift. Phunt is a small stuffed elephant who was Sandy's bed buddy in the hospital. On Sandy's last day Kelly was on shift. I will not go into the emotional details except to say that Kelly made sure that Sandy's wishes were met and that she was comfortable to her final breath. Kelly also made sure that myself and son Bryan were well informed about Sandy's decisions. Bryan and i asked Kelly to return to the room for a moment. She did and with tears flowing on all sides we had some smiles and hugs!!! She walked us out to the elevator...we hugged again and blessed best wishes to all. The Cole family was happy and proud to have Kelly Yurkosky in our life.