A calling to serve others
Daniel Lee-Munoz’s grandfather was his best friend and his constant in life. Watching
him lay in a hospital bed with his heart functioning at only 12% is an image he will
never forget, but so is the hospice nurse who guided him through that horrible time.
“I wasn’t comfortable being in the room anymore,” Lee-Munoz said. “It was unsettling to see him like that.”
After exiting the room, the College of Nursing student was sitting alone trying to make sense of everything that was to come when his grandfather’s nurse approached him.
A career defining moment
What followed was a conversation so pivotal for Lee-Munoz that it shaped his career and how he wanted to live his life.
“She asked me how I was doing,” he said. “There was something about her that was so genuine and safe.”
Lee-Munoz told the nurse how he wished for one more conversation with his grandfather and how hard it was to see him like this. The nurse listened attentively and explained what was happening and how despite him being in a coma-like state, his hearing would be the last thing to go in the dying process. She also reassured him that everything he was feeling was normal. She encouraged him to talk to his grandfather anyway, so that is exactly what he did. The next night, he took his grandfather’s hand before leaving and told him how much he loved him.
“I felt his fingers weakly grasp mine,” Lee-Munoz said. “And he said, ‘I love you more.’”
That was the last thing his grandfather ever said to him.
“That moment gave me a level of closure prior to his passing that I wouldn’t have had otherwise," he said. “If it weren’t for the nurse who took the time to support me, I wouldn’t have gone back in that room.”
Lee-Munoz is now set to graduate from UNT Health Fort Worth’s College of Nursing this August from the traditional BSN program. Throughout his entire time in nursing school, he’s kept that hospice nurse in the back of his mind as a blueprint for the kind of nurse he wants to be.
A familiar territory in a new light
The Fort Worth native was no stranger to healthcare settings prior to losing his grandfather. Long before nursing school, and even before his grandfather’s hospice care, Lee-Munoz had spent his fair share of time at Cook Children’s Medical Center.
Whether it was asthma, sports injuries or an infection, he was in and out of the hospital several times.
“Even with how often I went, I was still afraid of hospitals and doctor’s offices,” Lee-Munoz said. “I didn’t like that in moments when I didn’t feel like myself, the last place I wanted to be was exactly where I needed to go. That started to change when I began going to Cook Children’s.”
The moment he walked into the hospital, everyone made him feel safe, cared for and more than just a patient.
It wasn’t just the doctors and nurses who made him feel this way, but the entire staff. They didn’t just focus on making him feel better, they made sure he felt like himself again.
“In moments where I felt weak and vulnerable, they found ways to make me smile,” Lee-Munoz said. “I remember staff playing video games with me, playing hide and seek and when Captain America and Iron Man showed up to clean the windows of my room. Those experiences stayed with me. They helped me realize that nursing is not just about treating illnesses, it’s about restoring the person.
Staying true to Fort Worth
As a Fort Worth native, it just made sense for Lee-Munoz to stay in Cowtown for nursing
school. His experience at UNT Health has been far more than just an education, he’s
found a community that pushes him to exactly what, and where, he’s supposed to be.
“I feel like I’ve been empowered to create real, meaningful change,” Lee-Munoz said. “The community at UNT Health is something special. No matter who I’ve interacted with from a student, faculty member, or even President Calhoun, there is a consistent effort to make sure everyone feels like they belong.”
Values aligned
Since he was young, Lee-Munoz has wanted to help people. As he got older, he received advice that stuck with him, “choose a profession that allows you to do what you truly love, and you will never work a day in your life.”
For Lee-Munoz, that meant finding a career where he could help and serve others. Over time, it became evident to him that nursing was the career he would be able to do that in.
“It’s a career that allows me to show up for people every single day, especially during the most difficult moment in their lives,” Lee-Munoz said. “As a nurse, I’ll have the opportunity to be that support person in many different settings. Whether I’m part of a medical team at a marathon, providing public health education, or at the bedside helping a patient and their family through a long recovery, I’ll be doing exactly what I set out to do.”