This piece is part of our first-annual Health Care Heroes series, where we spotlight people doing amazing things in the health care and medical fields. Read the rest of the stories here.
Colsie Myrie, MSN, PNP, RN, a nurse manager in the Congenital Cardiovascular Care Unit at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone, and her team took care of then-seven-month-old Wyatt Lopez for 351 days (yes, you read that correctly) as he awaited a heart transplant. Below, in her own words, Colsie shares what the experience was like for her and her team, the unique challenges of pediatric transplants, and how she’s managed to stay strong through it all.
IVE BEEN A nurse for 34 years. I was drawn to nursing in particular because I had young children as a teenager in Jamaica and a nurse practitioner taught me how to take care of them. Shortly after I came to New York, I went into the cardiac unit. I thought the heart was interesting and you couldn't do anything without it. Then as I grew to understand what the heart did, I realized how complicated it was and that no two children are the same.
The difference between specialized congenital cardiac nursing and pediatric intensive care lies in the patient population. In the pediatric intensive care unit, we often care for children with conditions like asthma, kidney failure, or leukemia. In pediatric congenital cardiac care, these children are born with structural heart defects—often diagnosed before birth—so families frequently know early on that their child will require surgery.
When transplantation came about 20 years ago, it was very niche. It was like, oh my God, we're transplanting another human heart in another person? There was a lot of hype around it, a lot of concern around it, a lot of protection around it. It was scary, but exciting at the same time. I grew to love transplantation for what it provides the families.
Wyatt Lopez came to us in October 2024 at seven months old and stayed with us for a year-and-a-half. He was initially admitted for surgery on his heart, but despite the procedure, he could not recover. Eventually, the team came and said, “Okay, we need a transplant.” Typically, children with congenital heart conditions come in for repair and go home within a few weeks to a month—so having a patient live with us for this long was a first for our team.
There were so many challenges around having baby Wyatt in the hospital for such an extended time. I had to balance his grandmother’s expectations with those of the nursing team, working closely with her to create structure around his day. When can he go to the playroom? If we are addressing changes, can we do it on this day? Can we bathe him at this time? It required constant coordination to ensure we were meeting his medical needs, supporting his grandmother, and enabling the nurses to deliver the care they needed at the bedside.
I want people to understand what it takes for a family to spend a year in the hospital—to lose their independence, their privacy, their autonomy to take care of their child. Now a nurse has to step in to do many things. It’s difficult for a family financially, emotionally, and spiritually. When they're home, they can say, “Brush your teeth here, do this here, we're not going to do this today.” In the hospital, they don't have that ability. Through it all, his grandmother showed us that even in a highly clinical environment, we could meet his medical needs while still allowing him to be a toddler—walking, running, playing, and experiencing as much normalcy as possible.
It took 11 months to find a heart. The day before the transplant, his grandmother was told a match had been found and that we would take him to the OR at six o’clock the next morning. She was prepared for the long surgery—about 13 hours—and for what would follow. He would return intubated, with multiple lines and chest tubes, likely very swollen. He had been through several surgeries before, so she had some sense of what to expect—but if you’ve never seen it, there’s only so much you can do to prepare someone for that moment.
Before she agreed to the transplant, we walked her through what life after surgery would look like—because it’s not a single moment, it’s a lifelong process. We talked about the medications he would need, the frequent doctor visits, and the likelihood of future catheterizations. After a successful heart transplant surgery, he returned to the unit fully sedated, on a breathing tube, with multiple lines and chest tubes. His grandmother stayed by his side in the room she made his own, decorating it through the seasons—but in those early days, she couldn’t care for him in the ways she used to. Then, gradually, things shifted. We removed the breathing tube, and there he was—our beautiful Wyatt, with a new heart and a renewed energy for life. His grandmother was there for every step of that journey.
His grandmother is a character—she loves dressing him up. Before the transplant, she bought a tuxedo so Wyatt could leave the hospital wearing it. When the day finally came, I had the entire team—doctors, nurses, everyone who was part of his care and more—line the hallways as he made his way out. Everybody was singing, holding up signs, just so happy to see him go home. We were like, “Don't come back, please.” For months, baby Wyatt would walk the unit but never made it through those doors to the elevator. That day, he got to the door, he stopped, and he looked back at us as if to say, “Look, I'm going through the door.” Then we got to see him press the elevator button, go through the door, and leave.
Today, his grandmother and Wyatt come every two to three weeks to visit us. She stops by to see all the nurses and he rides in on his tricycle. He remembers all of us and he runs around the unit and we all have tears in our eyes and we're hugging. He went home with a gastrostomy tube (G-tube), and now she proudly shows us pictures of him eating pasta and pizza.
Right now we have five kids waiting for transplants. One of the challenges in pediatric transplantation is size—finding a donor heart that’s the right match can be difficult. As a result, children may wait anywhere from a few months to a year or more. During that time, extensive testing is done to ensure the best possible match, and that the child’s body will be able to accept the organ.
I'm grounded in who I am as a nurse and as a person, and that's the mentorship that I try to pass on to my team—that it's going to be okay. My 34 years as a nurse at the bedside, being a mother of two amazing girls, and my Caribbean roots all give me the strength to support and mentor my team.
There are moments when we sit together and cry—it can be overwhelming and hard. What’s most important is listening and staying grounded in who Colsie is. I'm a very strong person, but there are times I lean on my nurses, too. They ground me through the care they give and the passion they bring to this work. They come here ready to give 100 percent—and in return, I give 200 percent.
Most of them are still in school, and I want to see them grow—personally and professionally. I hope they build full, meaningful lives, just as I have, and continue to learn and evolve along the way. I'm grateful and honored to be in this role and to share this journey with them.
Describe your job in three words.
Amazing. Extraordinary. Groundbreaking.
Favorite medical show to watch?
ER.
Best career advice you've ever received?
“You're going to be great at this. It's going to be hard. You're going to have hard days, but if you just follow through, it will be okay.”
Robotic surgery: Yay or nay?
Nay.
Describe the future of AI in health care in three words.
Frightening. Extraordinary. Helpful.
What’s the strangest question a patient has asked you?
“Can you put my breast in this pump?” I said no, but I will absolutely get someone to help you do it.
Morning shift or night shift?
Night shift.
Guilty pleasure after a long shift?
My bed and something very sweet.
Rachel Epstein is the features director at Men's Health and Women's Health, where she leads the brands' most ambitious storytelling across platforms from reported narratives, profiles, and investigations to buzzy, expert-backed service packages. Her work has been nominated for two National Magazine Awards. Offline, she's likely watching a Heat game or finding a new coffee shop.
