I work with people who are leaving the hospital with a life-changing diagnosis. The patients themselves are frightened. Their families don’t know what to expect. The whole situation can be really overwhelming.

Every challenge is different: a tracheostomy patient who needs special accommodations at our clinic; a family too terrified to walk through the door for treatment; or a patient who misses dialysis because his prosthesis doesn’t fit and he can no longer put weight on his leg—something that has particular emotional resonance for me.

I’m these patients’ first touch point with Fresenius Kidney Care, so it’s important to me to represent the dedication and optimism of the entire team. When I see hope begin to replace fear and anxiety, that’s when I feel best about my job. Having lost my own leg, I know that hope for the future means everything.

Recently, a case manager gave me a ceramic angel as a thank you for being a ‘guardian angel’ to a patient who is doing well after a particularly rough time. That little figure now lives on the dashboard of my car. On particularly tough days, she’s there to remind me to stay stubborn and to always, always go that extra mile for our patients.