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BOUNTIFUL — Jennifer Anderton was rushed to the emergency room at Lakeview Hospital with COVID-19 symptoms, unaware that her journey would turn into a two-week stay.
"I started coming down with these symptoms that I'd never felt before," Anderton recalled, reflecting on the onset of her illness in January 2020.
The immense pain caused by respiratory issues still lingers vividly in her mind.
"It filled my lungs with secretions. I couldn't cough them up fast enough. I was drowning," she said.
The severity of Anderton's condition eventually caused her to lose consciousness, leading her into an out-of-body encounter with her own medical ordeal.
"I heard them say they could not find a pulse, and I visually watched them try to intubate me," she said.
"Somebody was in my ear saying, 'I've got you, you are okay. I thought it was an angel."
— Ashley Moser (@AshleyMoser) May 20, 2023
In 2020, Jennifer Anderton was placed in a medically induced coma…where she remembers hearing everything.
Tonight at 10, she meets the nurse behind that encouraging voice @KSL5TVpic.twitter.com/fdbvZgMC2q
Placed on a ventilator in the intensive care unit, Anderton found herself in a unique situation. She could hear the commotion around her, particularly a voice that resonated deeply within.
"Somebody was here in my ear saying, 'I've got you, you are okay,' and someone was hugging my head so it felt like a big hug," Anderton said.
Little did she know, the voice belonged to a critical care nurse named Lisa Whittaker. She came to work that evening to care for patients in need, as she has for the past 30 years — the past five of which had been spent at MountainStar Healthcare's Lakeview Hospital.
"I remember what Jennifer went through. I remember hugging her head and talking to her, and telling her she was going to make it," Whittaker said.
Whittaker sat by Anderton's side through the whole ordeal, reassuring her that she would make it.
"I'm happy that I was able to be there for her when she needed somebody the most," Whittaker said.
Anderton, who is also a traveling nurse, recovered and was discharged from the hospital Jan. 31, 2020, without ever knowing Whittaker's name.
This week, the two were able to reunite at Lakeview Hospital, after three years have passed. Anderton expressed her gratitude for the tender encouragement that kept her going, even when she had no knowledge of the person behind the soothing voice that had uplifted her spirit.
"I didn't even need to meet her to know that, because it's just her physical touch and how she treated me meant a lot. That meant a lot to me," Anderton said.
