Brynn & Kyle's Speech Given on Monday 05/17/10 in DC

Good Morning Everybody. Brynn and I are both very pleased to be able to be here today to honor the incredible nurses that cared for Brynn. But we are also very pleased to be able to be here to honor all of you.
You are remarkable and special people…each and every one of you. Every single day - you go to work and you walk into one painful and difficult situation after another. Not only that, but you can’t leave. You can’t escape to your office or to another patient in another part of the hospital. You are there for twelve hours with your patient and their grieving family. You stay, and deal and help patients and their loved ones through the most difficult times in their lives.
And so, we are very honored to be able to be up here right now. We get to be the ones to say thank you.

(BRYNN SPEAKING)
First and foremost, Thank you for choosing to be nurses. You all have the brains and skills to be doing so many other possible jobs…jobs that might even be more financially rewarding. But you choose to care for people.

(KYLE SPEAKING)
Thank you for being so good at what you do. Let me tell you, there is nothing more comforting to a family than a competent nursing staff. The fact that you are here at this convention shows that you are active in trying to improve the care in your hospitals. Thank you for taking the time and effort to learn new techniques and methods.

(BRYNN SPEAKING)
Thank you for being so Damn smart! And putting all those incredible brains to such good use.

(KYLE SPEAKING)
Thank you for having the courage to share your ideas with Doctors. They are smart and educated but they do not know everything. You have a wealth of experience and knowledge. You too can make a suggestion that will make a difference in a patient’s outcome. And if there are any doctors in the crowd, thank you for respecting the wisdom and experience of your nurses.

(BRYNN SPEAKING)
And thank you for doing all the extra things…the things that are not included in your job description yet you do them anyway.

(KYLE SPEAKING)
Thank you for doing range of motion exercises with your patient, even though the Neurologist is telling you she is in a coma with her eyes open.

(BRYNN SPEAKING)
Thank you for taking the time to bring a grieving mother a hot cup of tea.

(KYLE SPEAKING)
Thank you for washing your patient’s hair, and braiding it and giving her dignity as she lay helpless in a hospital bed.

(BRYNN SPEAKING)
Thank you for going above and beyond, because it is with the little extras that you begin to do more than just treat illness. It is with the little extras that you can treat a dying hope and restore a lost faith.

(KYLE SPEAKING)
Thank you for not giving up. Thank you for giving us a chance at life…even if it was a snowball’s chance.

(BRYNN SPEAKING)
We know that what you do is difficult. You have chosen a career in which the sacrifices that you make far outweigh the acknowledgement that you receive.
I am here to tell you that You matter. You make a difference. I do not remember much about being in a coma, almost nothing in fact... The only thing I remember…The voice of one nurse….the eyes of another. They took care of me and they took care of my family and for that I am forever grateful.

We are fortunate enough to be able to be here today. But there are some people back home in California that have something to say. (They put in a little good bye from everyone.)