COLUMBUS, Ohio — After 58 years in nursing, Wynola Wayne’s final walk out of the workplace felt like far more than a routine retirement celebration. For those who knew her impact, it was a tribute to a caregiver whose devotion to patients bordered on the extraordinary.
In 1965, Marco Houpe was only 15 months old when a Christmas tree caught fire during a visit to his grandmother’s home. The blaze left him with third-degree burns covering 85% of his body.
“On the way to the hospital, I died twice. … They didn’t expect me to make it,” Houpe said. “When the fire department found me, a toy was melted in my left hand.”
He was rushed to what is now Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, where Wayne, then a new nurse still completing her training, was assigned to the burn unit.
“And there was such a feeling of connection with him,” Wayne recalled. “And even though those burns were extensive, I said, ‘You’re going to survive.’ Because I could see it in his eyes.”
“My parents used to tell me about this nurse. In the morning, she was there. In the evening, she was there. At night, she was there,” Houpe said.
Asked whether his parents believed Wayne helped save his life, Houpe answered, “Yep, absolutely” — a belief he says he has fully embraced himself.
“If it wasn’t for her then, I wouldn’t be here today,” he said.
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Where he is today is married to his wife Tiffany for 12 years. They have two children, and Houpe has a good job as a school administrator and coach.
None of that surprises Wayne, who was so impressed by the will of that little boy that she named her own son after him. Likewise, Houpe was so impressed with Wayne’s compassion that he calls her his guardian angel.
“She fought for me while I didn’t know how to fight. She would not give up,” he said.
After a five-minute standing ovation at her retirement sendoff, Houpe escorted Wayne out of the building. And although she is now retired as a nurse, Marco says she will always retain her other title: “You’re an angel. You’re an angel.”
