Last Oct. 30, Karla O’Malley had a home cooked meal with her daughter and granddaughter in Overland Park.
They said their goodbyes, and O’Malley left to drive home. On her way, her car was struck by a suspected drunk driver going 70 miles per hour near 95th Street and Moody Park Circle.
O’malley sustained severe injuries, and was hospitalized for weeks before ultimately succumbing to those injuries in December.
Now, thanks to Research Medical Center intensive care nurse Tiffany Young, O’Malley’s daughter Megan Hillen has a new keepsake to remember her mother by.
Young created a personalized wooden cutting board engraved with O’Malley’s handwriting for her family to keep, a gift that has a deeper meaning for Hillen.
Nurse got to know O’Malley’s family
- O’Malley was initially taken to Overland Park Regional Medical Center but was ultimately transferred to Research in Kansas City, Mo., where Young became part of O’Malley’s care team.
- O’Malley was there for 37 days, during which time Young said the family quickly made her feel at home with them — including over the holidays, when she couldn’t be at home with her own family.
- “Starting my career in nursing during COVID really taught me that you’re not just a nurse to the patient,” she said. “You’re also taking care of the family, and I think that’s one of my favorite things in his career is being that person for families. Although I’ve never had a family that made such an impact on me as the O’Malley’s.”
Young made the cutting board as a ‘thank you’
- Young said she wanted to find a way to thank Hillen for her kindness while she spent time with her and her family every day.
- The cutting board is engraved with a handwritten message taken from a birthday card O’Malley had written for Hillen when she was alive.
- The board now hangs in Hillen’s kitchen for Hillen to look at while she cooks — something she says she and her mother used to do together.
Hillen said she was inspired by the care team’s kindness
- During her mother’s stay at Reasearch, Hillen said the kindness Young and O’Malley’s other nurses showed her family reminded her of her mother.
- Going forward, she said it made her want to live every day like her mother would have.
- “Seeing other people treat us with that kind of kindness that I’d always seen from my mom, it just made me realize there’s a lot of good people in the world,” she said. “It inspired me to try to just live every day like she would and just think about how she would approach a situation. Just that idea of holding onto hope until the last second.”
The case is still pending in the courts
- Earlier this year, the driver who struck O’Malley was charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter/DUI.
- Hillen still remembers her mother as the “queen of random acts of kindness.”
- “The whole experience has given me a lot of time to just reflect on who my mom was,” Hillen said. “She just always went out of our way to make sure everything or everyone around her was okay.
