Mary

It took me the better part of the week to write about this. I was stopped in the hall and asked if I knew?

Knew “what” I asked?

Oh, Mary was found dead in her home last night.

You mean Mary the hospice nurse?

Ya, that Mary.

I was stunned. Mary was in her forties and suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis. As bad as her own suffering was she never said a word in complaint. She was always more concerned that her patients were properly cared for. She had been crippled in birth by a malformed right leg. She never complained.  She could have easily qualified for medicare disability but she never even considered it.

When coworkers would take the time to have an extended lunch Mary would decline to participate and head back to work, she refused to leave until she had seen all her patients. Her patients were all to her.

Over the past year I worked hand in hand with her in providing for her hospice patients. Although crippled and in pain she always thought of others first. I feel so small next to her.

I snuck out to my car to cry after I heard about her death. Rest in peace Mary, you taught me more about life and death than almost any person I’ve ever known.

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