The Kindness of Strangers

My mind has been full of all the "what ifs", lately...

And, when it returns to all the "what hads"...what had happened...all the players...I remember that there were some incredible nurses with Salvatore in the NICU who also held our hands.

Lizzy.

Lizzy seemed young and intense upon first connection. The first time I met her was when they had taken Salvatore off the cooling cap and I was going to be able to hold him for the first time. She was there when I moved my finger and showed her how he was hanging on to it with all his little fingers wrapped around my one..."He was saving that one for you," she said. "I don't understand how he can do this while they're telling me there's no brain activity?," I asked. "You know, there's something called science," she said "and there's something larger than science that we will never understand.,"

I had asked J to get a book to have people write messages to Salvatore when he was in the NICU. When it got returned to me, I saw that many people had written messages to all 3 of us. I came across Lizzy's message. It was written at 4am.

"Just returned to help care for & be privileged in sharing your wonderous little Salvatore. Upon returning I see a phone being held to his precious ear and know without doubt that his soul is connected to his mother & father, with mommy being so strong & loving and daddy, so compassionate and enduring with courage. Within the small amount of time I have been blessed to know you, I feel that you, Mimmo, & you, Lisa, balance and complete each other. Baby Salvatore has an old, wise, & grand soul far beyond our comprehension. He is such a gift filled with sharing and love. He has already, within a few days, taught both of you strength and love more than you've probably ever known. I wish I could take away the pain and hurt you feel. I know in my heart that both of you love Salvatore & are the best parents he could have & will continue to do things with his best interest in your hearts and minds. It is so evident he is loved, wanted, & appreciated. I feel very privileged to know you and Salvatore. Thank you for being so wonderful - BOTH OF YOU! ALL OF YOU! Love, your nurse Lizzy



Another nurse I only met once. I can't remember her name, but I will never forget her. She was on-call the day we were to have our family meeting with the Drs. The day that the Drs. told us that after doing the brain cooling cap therapy and doing the MRI and EKG, that nothing had changed. Mimmo and I came back from the meeting and Salvatore was being serenaded on guitar by our friend, Alice. Alice sang him a beautiful song she had written. After she had left, I noticed that there was this new sound machine on Salvatore's bed. I asked the nurse what it was. She said that she went out on her break and bought it for him, because "I thought, he doesn't need to be hearing all these machines! Little did I know, he was going to get live music!".