Nurses certainly do have a special job—and this is just one story that proves it. Years ago, Claire Thompson, a tiny baby in Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit in Albany, GA, was cared for by neonatal nurse Mattie Willis. (View the video by WALB News, the local NBC news affiliate.)

Today, they work side by side. Willis is now a 30-year veteran on the neonatal unit, and says she remembers Thompson as a baby, as she remembers most of her patients. Thompson says she also remembers her patients because the job of a neonatal nurse is so unique.

“Even in a year and a half that I’ve been here, there are just certain families and patients you never forget,” Thompson told WALB News.

Do you have a special story about caring for patients and the rewards that come with it? Post a comment below and share your story with other nurses!