One Family’s Hospice Experience

One family’s story about Nationwide Children’s hospice team’s care for their baby boy:

Our 6-month-old baby was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia September 10, 2010. We spent seven months in the hospital fighting for his life. Our baby was a trooper and went through five cycles of unforgiving chemotherapy. He went to the OR 16 times for various procedures.

He went into remission and we were very happy for our family. However, three  weeks later the Leukemia returned. With very few options available and our deep sense of not putting him through any more pain, we decided to take him home for hospice care.

We did not know anything about hospice, what they do, how they function and how it would impact our baby and our family.

We were surprised to find that even though we were experiencing a very painful and sad time, we had support from the entire hospice team. The chief of hospice physician, pastors, nurses, social worker and child-life specialists worked as a team and worked with our family to make the time a slightly more bearable one.

Each of the team’s individuals gave us support, love and care. They treated our baby as if he was their own baby. They respected our space and our home. They gave our other son love and support.

The hospice team at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is a team of dedicated, loving and caring individuals who work very well as a team, coordinate all that needs to be done and always check on the family.

The hospice team excelled the best of care that we have ever seen. We take comfort in the fact that our baby received the very best care ’til the very end. If our 16-month-old baby could say anything, he would have said “Thank you” to the hospice team.