ward's doctor

My little cousin Ward's doctors and nurses at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital were just amazing. James and Julie have said repeatedly that they could not have asked for better or more loving and compassionate care for Ward in his last few days with them.

I met several of the nurses and two of his doctors. One of them was Dr. Heidi Smith, who was caring for Ward that first night when my sister and I drive 100 miles an hour to get to Nashville from Knoxville. When we got there at midnight, she talked to us for at last twenty minutes, patiently answering all our questions, even though she had certainly answered the same questions from a dozen other family members who had gotten there before we did.

Dr. Smith wrote these lovely, amazing words about Ward:

A blessed family...
"I was blessed to have met this special family on July 26th when Ward first arrived in my intensive care unit at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. Beautiful face, bluest of eyes, softest of skin...a picture of a perfect little boy...no fear, love for the thrill of a sunny day...loved by parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends...a whole town...and by way of his death, loved by so many nurses and physicians. I can't explain why I do what I do...except to say that for a brief moment in the worst of nightmares in the sickness/trauma of a loved one, I get to see the deepest of love, the proof of life's worth, the realization that life is not just about the here and now. I felt the love that James and Julie have for Ward in the way they loved him until the end of his journey on earth. Ward fought so very hard, and gave his family a small gift of time...a moment to attempt to adjust and have little regret at the wonder of his incredible life, and the way that he has touched so many hearts. I so appreciate Ward's entire family, especially grandpa and mom for putting their fears aside and giving Ward the chance for life when they rescued him from the lake. Julie described Ward's shoes on the dock, placed neatly there, as he likely jumped in while thinking he wanted to make the biggest "cannon-ball" splash possible...and in some ways he did..."

Heidi A. Beverley Smith, MD
Physician in the intensive care unit at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital