Fulfilling a family’s wish during an honor walk

More than a dozen of the patient’s family members and friends joined hospital staff who lined the walls of a hallway at UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central (MHC). They had gathered for an end-of-life honor walk to honor the patient’s life and their stupendous gift of organ donation.

The family requested that those gathered pause for a prayer. They requested that a chaplain read the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father) in English followed by a family member reading the same prayer in Spanish.

When a family member became too distraught to read the prayer, another family member asked: “Can anyone say it in Spanish?”

Without hesitation, Leyda Guizar, stepped in and led the prayer in Spanish.

Padre nuestro que estas en el cielo …, she began, fulfilling the family’s wish to have the prayer said in both languages during the honor walk.

“You could just hear the emotion from the family. The absolute heartbreak in their voices. And they just couldn’t say the prayer,” said Guizar, a certified nurse assistant who works in the cardiac ICU at Memorial Central.

Having lost a loved one herself, Guizar could relate to the family’s pain.

“So I just stepped up, and I said it,” said Guizar. “And the family members that were able to say the prayer, said it along with me.”

Honor walks give family and staff a meaningful way to pay their respects as a donor patient is transported to give the gift of life to those awaiting organ transplants.

Recalling that day, colleague Jessica Trivett submitted a Celebrating You recognition for Guizar.

“You stepped up with no hesitation and led the whole family in the Lord’s Prayer in Spanish. With tears in my eyes, I proudly stood next to you. Your passion for patients and their families never goes unnoticed. Thank you for being strong enough to do that for them as they were saying goodbye. I will never forget that moment,” Trivett wrote in the recognition.

Guizar has been a CNA for almost 10 years. She started working at MHC ICU in September 2022, after an experience with a family member admitted to the same unit spurred her to apply.