SEAFORD — Virginia “Ginny” Hendricks, RN, of TidalHealth Nanticoke’s Medical Surgical Unit, has been selected as the Seaford hospital’s August 2023 recipient of the Daisy Award.
Her nomination, below, was written by a family member to acknowledge the exceptional care and compassion she provided to their aunt:
My 52-year-old aunt was admitted to TidalHealth Nanticoke with respiratory failure from metastatic colorectal cancer to the lungs on April 13. My aunt had been told her lung tumor burden was causing her respiratory failure and there was nothing else to be done but focus on keeping her comfortable.
During my aunt’s 23-month battle with cancer, her goal had been to survive long enough to make it to her daughter’s high school graduation. My aunt gave up her career to homeschool my cousin and poured every bit of herself into making her daughter’s life as wonderful as possible. My cousin was scheduled to graduate in the first week of June. My family asked if we could do a fake graduation early, as we felt my aunt was suffering to try and make it to June, but we were always told that wasn’t what my aunt and cousin wanted.
All the nurses involved in my aunt’s care were truly remarkable, but Ginny had a special bond with my aunt and cousin that helped them agree to do the graduation early at the hospital. On April 18, Ginny set up a conference room for us to use for the cake, pizza, pictures and balloons. Ginny arranged it so the whole family could be there as well as some of my aunt’s chemo nurses.
The graduation ceremony and celebration were gloriously perfect. My aunt was able to give a speech to say how proud she was of my cousin. Another nurse came in and offered to…