24 years. Two physicians, a Stanford professor, a young man with diabetes.
I built Nearby because the system never caught up.

It started 24 years ago with a piece of paper. Mom's medication list, scrawled on the back of an envelope — name, dose, time. I updated it every time something changed. Folded it, unfolded it, lost it, rewrote it. That's how caregiving began for me.

Since then I've been the primary caregiver for Dr. David Ramsay, former Vice Chancellor at UCSF. For Dr. Ralph DiLisio, who trusted me with the details that mattered. For a Stanford professor whose family I supported through the hardest years. And for a young man with advanced diabetes — the kindest, most underserved person I've ever known. All four are gone now.

Each one taught me something the healthcare system never would. And with each one, I found myself building the same things over and over — a shared schedule, a medication list, a way to answer the 2am question. The system never caught up. So I did.