Need community's help locating a Pittsburgh-area nurse (Missy)

[ncwheelie]

I realize this may be somewhat of an off-topic subject for this forum, but I'm the type of person who believes that certain things happen for a reason, so please bear with me.

When I was 16 years old, I was injured in a car accident and suffered a C6-C7 spinal compression fracture. It was an incomplete break, so I am rather fortunate for my level of injury, but nonetheless I have spent the last 22 years in a wheelchair. I spent over five months in the hospital/rehab recovering from the injury, one month of which was in ICU.

Despite this I am now an attorney, with an MBA in finance. I am married to a beautiful woman (ex-model) and have a wonderful four year old son. I've traveled to nearly every state and various parts of the world. I've never let my injury prevent me from having an incredible and fulfilling life.

However, that said, I know I owe everything that I have and all of the happiness I've experienced in my life to the nurses that took care of me during that five months of hell. I know of at least two occasions during that period when their actions directly saved my life, and I'm sure there were other times as well. And their kindness and encouragement helped me through a very dark time where it was very clear that if I did not fight to stay alive, I would have died.

Back to the point of this post....This past weekend (7/13-7/14), I drove up to Pittsburgh from North Carolina to attend two Dave Matthews shows at First Niagara Pavilion. During the show, a young nurse came and sat down in the extra seat next to me. After awhile, she told me a sad story of her experience of what it was like sometimes being a nurse, especially in her unit (some type of post-op ICU). She talked of unappreciative doctors getting all the credit while the nurses did most of the work, and how thankless it was to put so much into caring for people who would never know who you are.

Granted, she had obviously had a couple beers, but nonetheless her story broke my heart. She clearly cared deeply for people, and she brought back a flood of memories of the ICU nurse Rachel that saved my life. On my seventh day in ICU following my injury, Rachel was assisting a doctor who was attempting to put in a new central line beneath my collarbone. The doctor was clearly having trouble and started becoming frustrated after multiple attempts....Rachel began arguing with him about something, telling him to stop, that something was wrong. About that time, I began to struggle to breathe...the doctor had missed my vein and ruptured my artery causing my lung cavity to fill with blood.

Her face with the last thing I saw before I passed out...her look of concern and determination as she went into action to try to save me. Her face was also the first thing I saw when I woke up following the extensive surgery to repair the artery. I was told later that she had refused to leave following her shift...that she sat in the room next to my bed for nearly 10 hours until I finally woke up. Full of chest tubes and on a respirator, I was in far worse shape than when I had come in with the broken neck. But I remember her leaning over and telling me that I was going to be okay...and I believed her. Even to this day, during the harder moments of my life, I still hear her voice reminding me it's going to be okay. I never saw her again after that day...and have always wanted to thank her.

So I'm taking a shot in the dark here that someone might know this young woman I met at Dave Matthews. Based on the limited information I have from our conversations during that show, here's what I know:

- Her name is Missy - her friend Bree (also a nurse) was also with her, along with four other nurses

- She's 25 (almost 26) with blonde hair, average height, slender build

- She works in a some sort of cardiothoracic ICU or post-op recovery unit in the Pittsburgh area

- She drives a Jeep Liberty

- They were all camping together for the weekend

- She has a cute little dog she is ALL about

If you know her, please don't send me her personal information....I don't need her number or address. She will remember me - just please ask her to email me at this address if she so desires: [email protected]

All I want is to be able to tell her my story and the story of the nurses who cared for me so that she will truly understand the long term results of her hard work, even if it does seem thankless at times, and so that she'll know that some of us do remember our ICU nurses and we never forget. I never got a chance to thank Rachel...I would like to try to thank Missy on behalf of everyone she has helped.

That goes for the rest of you as well :)

Thanks for any help you can provide.

To the moderators - I created the above email account for this sole purpose and it is not linked to any personal information or accounts. I ask that you please do not edit it out. It seemed the best way to protect this young lady's privacy if she did not want to contact me.