Jason Sellers knows losing a child is never easy.

The 2008 DAISY Award recipient's personal experience mirrored that of a patient he cared for recently, bearing witness to the dedication and passion roused in nursing professionals.

DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System. The Daisy Foundation was founded in January 2000 by the family of J. Patrick Barnes, who died at age 33 of complications of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. Sellers is the first employee of 3 South at the Cape Fear Valley Health System, Fayetteville, NC, to receive a DAISY Foundation Award.

Sellers is an ob/gyn nurse on the surgical floor at 3 South. He was recently grieving the loss of his wife's first pregnancy when he was called to the bedside of a woman experiencing the same outcome.

"She happened to come to our service because the other unit was full. I believe I was meant to attend to her that day," Sellers said.

In providing care to this woman, Sellers shared his own recent experiences. "She and her husband were going through the same things we went through. I could completely understand because I'd been there, too," Sellers said.

Sellers' philosophy to put himself in the patient's shoes wasn't difficult in this case, and his ability to empathize with the couple went farther than any medication could have done.

Sellers credited his floor and staff colleagues, and a spirit of teamwork among his peers, with making such personal care possible.

"I would not have had the time to spend with my patients if staff weren't fully behind me and working to pitch in and help with other duties. We all help each other. It takes many hands to do this work, not just my hands," Sellers said.

Sellers said he didn't fully understand the significance of the award until much later.

"I received this award, but it is certainly not just about me. Any time you begin to think that way, and lose sight of the value of your peers, you are heading for a fall," Sellers said.

Today, Sellers and his wife have a healthy 3-month-old daughter.

The couple he grieved with also has a healthy child of their own.

Sellers was there the second time around as well. "It was wondrous to share their joy, and to be able to experience it, the same year, with the joy of our own pregnancy and [subsequent] birth experience," Sellers said.