Life comes full circle: Read how this nurse and patient share a bond

When the cared for became the caretaker. Nicole Krahn (left) is now caring for Lynn Bartos (right) during her three-hour appointments for rheumatoid arthritis treatments. The two have switched roles from more than 25 years ago, when Bartos cared for Krahn as a toddler. (Source: AP)
This heartwarming story will make you believe in karmic connections. Lynn Bartos, a 66-year-old retired nurse — hospitalised for rheumatoid arthritis pain — says she received a ‘gift’ in the form of her nurse.


In this photo from December 22, 2015, Nicole Krahn gets rheumatoid arthritis medication ready for semi-retired nurse Lynn Bartos at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. (Source: AP)
She had taken an inexplicable liking to Nicole Krahn. Even Krahn thought Bartos’ name was familiar. During a conversation, she discovered Bartos was working part-time at the hospital’s neurology clinic. “I asked, ‘Oh, is that where you spent your career?’ She said, ‘No … I spent my early career at the GI clinic at Children’s,'” Krahn said.Bartos took a second look at Krahn’s tag, which brought memories rushing in. “I said, ‘You’re NeeNee!’ And she said, ‘Yes, I am,’ and we suddenly realised we had this connection that went way back to her being a toddler,” said

In this June 1988 photo provided by Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Lynn Bartos — pediatric nurse for Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Gastroenterology Clinic — holds Nicole Frye. (Source: AP)
Bartos.Krahn — whose small intestines became twisted shortly after birth and were mostly removed — had to be fed intravenously for the first few years of her life. She visited the clinic regularly as a child to be weighed and for check ups. The girl, who called herself “NeeNee”, liked going to the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin four or five times a week because she got to see a nurse she called “Sweet Lynney”.

Rose Frye — Krahn’s mother — remembers how her daughter would tell the nurse about her boo-boos. “She got attached to certain people,” she said. The pair was even featured in the hospital’s nursing magazine in a 1988 story about long-term care.
They hadn’t seen each other in 25 years, since Bartos had changed jobs.


In this June 1988 photo, Nicole Frye looks up at Lynn Bartos. (Source: AP)
Bartos said she often wondered about “NeeNee”. “And I’m like, ‘That toddler is now taking care of me.’ And I think I spent the rest of the day crying during the infusion appointment,” Bartos said. Krahn — now 30 — said she remembered Bartos and always wanted to be a nurse. She says Bartos’ kindness influenced how she relates to patients.“I don’t know if it’s a small world, or it was meant for me to take care of her after all these years,” Krahn said. Bartos said, “It was absolute gift to me to reconnect with Nicole. That’s how I look at it — that I was given a gift to know that 44 years of nursing, I did make a difference.”



Source:AP