We recognize the toll that caring for critically ill patients can take on a medical team, one that, in a different way, parallels the hardship faced by these patients and their families during such an ordeal. But we feel that patients like Mary, and family members like Mark, are what make our work most rewarding, especially when they can come back months later and show the success they’ve had in their recovery. For us, Mary and Mark’s story has instilled hope for patients with similarly guarded prognoses, and allows us to practice with a renewed sense of optimism. We recognize how easy it is to focus only on how ominous the negatives seem — a cardiac arrest, status epilepticus, prolonged coma.

Complete story from NCC Currents:

https://currents.neurocriticalcare.org/blogs/currents-editor/2018/09/18/stories-of-hope-mary