Published on February 11, 2010

Maggie's Special Nurses

A courageous 12-year-old named Maggie Wiederholt passed away recently.  Two years ago she spoke at the Genesis Gala about the importance of supporting the Genesis Health Services Foundation. Here is the very personal story Maggie shared:

"Hi, my name is Maggie. On June 18th, 1997, I took my first breath at Genesis Medical Center.  Only things did not go so great right away for me, because I was sick.

I didn't get to meet my mom and dad right away. The first people I spent time with besides Dr. Daniel, were my nurses in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit).  They took really good care of me and worked hard to make sure I could breathe easier.  They took extra time putting my IV line back in because my veins were not so great.  They even took a picture of me and sent it in to my mom so she could see what I looked like.

My whole life I have been sick.  I have spent a lot of time in the pediatric unit at Genesis.  I have osteogenesis imperfecta, cerebral palsy, uveitis and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.  Because I am also immunodeficient, I get sick a lot and my body does not fight off germs.

It's not easy taking care of me because the diseases that I have are not easy to take care of.

My nurses have to work extra hard ALL of the time and have had to learn a lot of new things just so they can help make me better.  Usually if it can go wrong to me, it does, so the nurses try extra hard to make sure that it doesn't.

When I have had to stay in the pediatrics unit for a long time, or have to miss out on really fun things, sometimes I get sad, but my nurses always know how to cheer me up.

They always do special things for me to make me laugh. My nurse, Lorie, makes a spa with bubbles for my Polly Pockets and dresses up my stuffed animals to surprise me while I am in the shower.  She always puts a soft blanket on my pillow so that my long hair doesn't get everything all wet.

Julie and Anna have taken care of me since the first day in the NICU and they are still taking care of me today.  They bring me movies from their house to watch and sometimes we have saline wars with the syringes.  Most of the time we just shoot them at my mom!

The nurses don't care if I throw up on their shoes or even if I almost throw up on their head while they are helping me get dressed.  My nurses at Genesis are not afraid to take care of me, they even know which one of my veins will hold an IV the longest and which size of needle to use, or which tape won't make my skin blister.

I love my nurses at Genesis.  They are part of my family.  I have been to a lot of hospitals in the last 10 years, including the University of Iowa, Johns Hopkins, Shriners and Mayo Clinic but I have grown up at Genesis.

When I was in all of those "other" hospitals, I met a lot of nurses.  I learned something very important. I think that ANYONE who tries hard enough can graduate from college as a nurse, but it takes someone VERY special to be a Genesis nurse."

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