You get the call. The one you pray you'll never get. You arrive at the ICU to find your loved one on life support. Hoses and tubes obscure their face and connect them to large, intimidating machines. And the sound – the rhythmic whir and schooock of the massive ventilator breathing life into their too still body – rocks you to your core. As their eyes finally open, you muster a brave face. Yet you find your own breath catching in your throat… in dreaded anticipation… if that whir and schooock ceases – one heart will stop; and yours will break.
Recent studies have proven what many have long known: ICU patients need more than mere dependable delivery of oxygen. They need hope.
