An Alabama family witnessed a powerful act of faith and kindness when three intensive care nurses transformed a hospital room into a place of baptism for a dying woman.
According to Huntsville Hospital Health System, 74-year-old Jeannie Guffey was battling lung cancer in the hospital’s Medical Intensive Care Unit and preparing to return home under hospice care. With little time remaining, she told her family she wanted to be baptized.
The request presented a challenge. Guffey remained confined to a fourth-floor room surrounded by monitors, IV poles and other medical equipment. Nurses Erin Powers, Kaitlin Swaim and Emily Owens, however, refused to let those obstacles stand in the 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.
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After researching possible solutions, the nurses spent their own money on a kiddie pool from Walgreens and had it delivered to the hospital July 8 through DoorDash. Guffey’s family provided an electric pump, while the nurses fashioned a hose from ventilator tubing to fill the pool with warm water.
“Sometimes, you’ve just got to get innovative,” Owens said.
Once the pool was ready, ICU staff used a ceiling lift to carefully lower Guffey into the water. Her adult son, Jody, baptized her as her husband, Ronnie, and other loved ones gathered around.
“It was just a really sweet, emotional moment,” 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.”
For the family, the baptism brought comfort and peace during an otherwise painful season.
“Seeing her baptized, it was like the weight of the world was lifted off our shoulders,” Carol said.
Guffey left the hospital the following day and spent her remaining days at home in Huntsville with her loved ones. She died peacefully July 17.
Her family remains grateful for the nurses who saw Guffey as more than a patient and worked together to honor her faith. What began with an ICU room and a simple kiddie pool became a lasting testimony of compassion, service and the presence of God.
“That was a total God thing,” Carol said. “And those nurses will be special to us forever.”
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a journalism background from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and at the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
