A deeply personal moment inside a Huntsville Hospital ICU has struck a chord far beyond the hospital walls, drawing more than 32,000 reactions and 3,300 shares on Facebook after less than a day.
At the center of the response is the story of Jeannie Guffey, 74, and three nurses who got creative to fulfill her final wish to be baptized before she went home under hospice care.
Guffey, who had been diagnosed with lung cancer last summer, was receiving care in Huntsville Hospital’s Medical Intensive Care Unit when her family began searching for a way to honor her wish.
Inside a fourth-floor ICU room filled with monitors, IV poles and other medical equipment, a baptism presented some obvious challenges.
Medical ICU nurses Erin Powers, Kaitlin Swaim and Emily Owens decided they would find a way.
“This was a last wish that was very important to the patient and her family, so we had to find a way,” Owens said.
After some online research, the nurses used their own money to buy an inflatable kiddie pool from Walgreens and had it delivered to the hospital by DoorDash on July 8. Guffey’s family supplied an electric air pump, and the nurses fashioned a makeshift hose from ventilator tubing to fill the pool with warm water from the sink.
“Sometimes, you’ve just got to get innovative,” Owens said.
Once everything was ready, Medical ICU staff used the room’s ceiling lift to safely lower Guffey into the water. Her adult son, Jody, performed the baptism as her husband, Ronnie, and other loved ones gathered around.
“It was just a really sweet, emotional moment,” Guffey’s daughter-in-law, Carol Guffey, said. “The nurses went above and beyond to make this happen at the 11th hour when we were running out of options.
“Seeing her baptized, it was like the weight of the world was lifted off our shoulders.”
A day after her baptism, Guffey left the hospital to spend her remaining days at home in Huntsville surrounded by family. She died peacefully July 17.
When Huntsville Hospital shared the story on Facebook this week, the response was immediate. By Thursday morning, the post had received more than 32,000 reactions and 3,300 shares, carrying the story of Guffey and her nurses well beyond North Alabama.
For her family, however, the lasting impact remains much closer to home.
“That was a total God thing,” Carol Guffey said. “And those nurses will be special to us forever.”
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