Dear caregiver,

I want to thank you for your enormous sacrifice and labor of love. I thank you for your relentless effort and daily sacrifices. For allowing this caregiving role to interfere, interrupt, and completely rearrange your schedule and life without your permission.

I thank you for showing up daily, even when you did not know what to do or have the energy to do what was expected of you. There were days when you had to stop everything else to ensure this task was accomplished. And you did it with such grace and love, thank you.

Thank you for putting yourself last and not giving up even when you felt like. Thank you for allowing your emotions to go through the rollercoaster of not knowing what to expect each day. You are a hero. You have represented Christ well.

Well done, well done, well done. You are highly appreciated. And if no one has thanked you, let me thank you on their behalf. Thank you!

Joyce Owaga (Ekeh) Mulama is an advanced practicing registered nurse. For over ten years, she has practiced nursing at the veterans’ medical hospital in Columbia, South Carolina. She is also a home health care nurse and nurse educator. In addition, she is an author and freelance public speaker.

Joyce is a passionate caregiver and patient advocate whose purpose was birthed out of a series of painful, dramatic, and insightful experiences. In Caregiving, she wants to share her story to encourage that young orphan girl who is not sure what life will become, or that young widow who is wondering if she can survive this blow, or the single mother who has never walked this path before, and that dreamer who wonders whether their dream can will ever be valid.