Dying Woman Baptized in Hospital ICU Thanks Heroic Nurses: 'It's Never Too Late'
A dying woman’s wish to be baptized was fulfilled in extraordinary fashion at an Alabama hospital in recent weeks, thanks to a kiddie pool, a makeshift hose and the heroic actions of three nurses.
Jeannie Guffey, a 74-year-old patient at Huntsville Hospital, knew she had only a short time to live. Diagnosed with lung cancer a year earlier, she was now confined to an intensive care unit bed, with hospice care just around the corner.
Guffey wanted to be baptized before she died, but she was surrounded by the medical equipment common to any ICU – IV poles, monitors and other devices hardly conducive to such a ceremony.
That’s when three nurses – Erin Powers, Kaitlin Swaim and Emily Owens – sprang into action, going to extraordinary lengths to fulfill Guffey’s final wish. Their efforts were later celebrated in a blog post on the hospital’s website.
Using their own money, the nurses ordered a kiddie pool and had it delivered to the hospital. They used an electric air pump from Guffey’s family to inflate it. They then filled the pool with warm water from the sink, using ventilator tubing for a makeshift hose.
Hospital staff used a ceiling lift to place her in the pool. Guaffey’s adult son performed the baptism.
“It was just a really sweet, emotional moment,” Guffey’s daughter-in-law, Carol Guffey, said in the blog. “The nurses went above and beyond to make this happen at the 11th hour when we were running out of options.
“Seeing her baptized, it was like the weight of the world was lifted off our shoulders.”
A day later, the 74-year-old woman went into hospice. She died July 17, nine days after she was baptized.
Her daughter-in-law credits divine intervention for the chain of events, grateful that all three nurses assigned to Guffey were determined to see the dying woman’s final wish fulfilled.
“That was a total God thing,” she said. “And those nurses will be special to us forever.”
Evangelist Franklin Graham celebrated the story and shared it with his followers on social media.
“It’s never too late,” he wrote. “... What an incredible story of faith and Godly determination. Thank you to the ICU nurses – Erin Powers, Kaitlin Swaim, and Emily Owens – at this Huntsville, Alabama, hospital who made it happen!”
Photo Credit: ©HuntsvilleHospital
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
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Originally published September 02, 2026.
