Across Oceans and Operations: How a Cook Children’s Hat Carried a Father Through His 11th Deployment
By Nikinsha Harrison, mother of a Cook Children’s patient
This Cook Children’s hat has seen many parts of the world. It has traveled across countries - including Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq and Syria - journeying through the skies, along highways and across some of the world’s most challenging terrain. It has endured countless seasons, harsh weather and thousands of miles away from home. Along the way, it visited world monuments and military installations and has been part of many heartfelt conversations, prayers and discussions of faith.
More than an article of clothing, the hat represents a father’s love, a soldier’s strength and the unwavering faith that carried Sgt. 1st Class Harrison through his 11th military deployment.
When Harrison wasn’t reporting for duty, the Cook Children’s hat was often the first thing he reached for. It served as a constant reminder of the little girl waiting for him at home and the reason he kept going, even when the mission was difficult and the distance felt overwhelming.
During his deployment, his daughter, NiJa’Marie, was fighting her own battle in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CICU) at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth. She faced multiple procedures and major heart surgeries.
On May 1, 2025 – just one week before NiJa’Marie’s second major heart surgery – Harrison and his beloved Cook Children’s hat reported for duty together. She was preparing for a complex operation to repair her complete atrioventricular canal defect (CAVC) and undergo a main pulmonary artery reconstruction using a porcine pericardial patch.
While Harrison carried out his military mission thousands of miles away, the hat served as a tangible reminder that his daughter was receiving exceptional care from dedicated medical professionals. It helped keep his heart anchored in hope, his mind focused on the mission and his faith strong through the uncertainty of having a critically ill child so far out of reach.
The hat bore witness to the emotional weight of a father serving his country while his little girl fought for her life. It became a symbol of the strength required to carry two missions in one heart: serving the nation and praying for the healing of his child.
For our family, this Cook Children’s hat will forever hold a special place in our hearts. It represents the connection between a father serving overseas, a daughter fighting in the CICU and the medical team caring for her when he could not be there in person. It reminds us that military families serve in ways the world does not always see, carrying the weight of deployments, medical crises, separation and uncertainty while holding tightly to faith.
As we honor Veterans Day, we salute Harrison and the countless service members and veterans who must leave their children and loved ones during complex, critical medical circumstances. We also honor the spouses, children and caregivers who fight their own battles on the home front.
To the Cook Children’s medical staff who report for duty every day, caring for our littlest warriors through their individual medical journeys: Thank you. Your compassion, expertise and dedication make a difference not only in the lives of your patients, but also in the hearts of the families who entrust you with their most precious gifts.
This hat traveled the world, but its greatest journey was the one that brought our family hope, strength and the reminder that we were never alone.
We salute our veterans. We honor our military families. And we thank Cook Children’s for caring for our little warriors.
