TAMPA, Fla. — Just before kick-off of Super Bowl LV in Tampa, Amanda Gorman recited a poem honoring three community heroes named Super Bowl captains, one of whom is a Tampa Bay nurse.
Gorman was named the country's first National Youth Poet Laureate and wowed the nation during President Joe Biden's inauguration with her poem "The Hill We Climb."
Sunday's "Chorus of the Captains" noted the "actions and impact" James Martin, Trimaine Davis and Suzie Dorner have had during "a time of uncertainty and need."
Dorner is an ICU nurse at Tampa General Hospital.
Gorman's poem says "her chronicles prove that even in tragedy, hope is possible. She lost her grandmother to the pandemic, and fights to save other lives in the ICU battle zone, defining the frontline heroes risking their lives for our own."
Dorner was the honorary coin toss captain.
She had been a nurse manager at Tampa General Hospital for about four months when the pandemic hit. She says, overnight, her medical ICU turned into the COVID-19 ICU.
"That created a lot of you know, a little bit of panic and anxiety within my team. You know, we really had to change how we practice nursing," says Dorner.
She worked selflessly and tirelessly to help those battling COVID-19.
In the middle of it, Dorner lost two grandparents. One of them is the reason she became a nurse.
"She was a nurse in World War Two and she was very influential and a role model to me growing up and I always said I wanted to be just like her so losing her was was definitely hard," Dorner said. "And especially not being able to be to say my goodbyes to her was very, very hard."
For her dedication through this challenging year, the NFL has named Dorner an honorary captain at Super Bowl LV. It came with a thank you from Buccaneers legend Derrick Brooks.
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