An Extraordinary Life: Joliet nurse championed neuroscience, cared for people 24/7

Katy Wepprecht of South Wilmington said she received an odd text from her friend Leslie Barna on Oct. 11.

The text said, “You need to come down here. You need to call 911.”

Katy did, of course. Many years ago, when her 22-year-old son, Shane, was just 8, Leslie, a registered nurse, was there for Katy. Shane had his first seizure at school, with tests showing he had a noncancerous brain tumor, and Leslie supported the family through the process.

“Leslie just showed up on my porch one day with her girls and explained everything to us,” Katy said.

The two families grew close, and Leslie developed a close bond with Shane, who had a second brain surgery when he was in the seventh grade, Katy said. This past summer, their families along with the Bexson family vacationed in Florida to celebrate Leslie’s 60th birthday.

Leslie’s subsequent diagnosis was devastating to people who knew her. Leslie had atrial fibrillation and Stage 4 lung cancer. She died Oct. 29. Leslie, a registered nurse since she was 19, was the stroke coordinator at AMITA Health St. Joseph Medical Center and worked a second job as home health nurse.

She was also overseeing the health care for Leslie’s mother, Estelle, and cooking homemade meals that Estelle could heat up and freeze, Katy said. Leslie’s father, William, had died six years ago.

Katy said Leslie was a hometown girl, a passionate alumnus of Gardner South Wilmington High School, generous with her time and money, hardworking, fun and adventurous.

In addition, Leslie, a registered nurse for 40 years, had raised her daughters, Sophie Barna and Celia Barna, as a single mother. They live together in Iowa and both are nurses.

“Leslie loved her girls,” Katie said. “I’m not saying she was better than any other mother, but it was a fierce love. I often asked Leslie for parenting advice; I asked her for advice on everything. She gave the best advice. ... She was my best friend. I can’t believe she’s never going to walk through my front door for a meal or just to sit on my couch.”

When Sophie and Celia were growing up, Leslie hosted big sleepovers for the girls and rose at 5 a.m. to make eggs, bacon and homemade cinnamon rolls, Sophie said. If the girls came home late after a game, Leslie had macaroni and cheese or chili dogs waiting for them, Sophie added.

“My mom cared a lot about people,” Celia said. “She had a big heart.”

Leslie never missed their sporting events. After Sophie and Celia went away to college, they could call Leslie anytime and typically talked to her every day, Sophie said. Leslie also hosted large holiday gatherings, spending most of her time in the kitchen preparing and serving food.

“She’d say, ‘A home isn’t an address,’ ” Sophie said. “It’s a person.”

Celia said Leslie was in her 30s when she eared her master’s degree in nursing from Lewis University in Romeoville and that, along with working with neurosurgeon Dr. Ramsis Ghaly, is what led Leslie to become a stroke coordinator.

Leslie also started working for a home health agency a couple of years ago and had visited her patients the day before she had her health crisis, Sophie said.

“She would go into a patient’s house in full [personal protective equipment]. It was pretty insane how much she loved it,” Sophie said. “Even COVID couldn’t scare her away.”

Bob Swisher, 72, of Braceville was one of those patients. He has made Santa visits for local residents for 21 years and paid some of those visits to Leslie’s daughters when they were young. So Bob was delighted when he was assigned home health and Leslie knocked on his door.

He called her dedication “undying” and said, “It tore my heart out when she died.”

“If I needed something at 1 in the morning, I could call her and she’d come right over,” Bob said. “Of course, she didn’t live that far away from me. But I’m quite sure that if she gave me that much attention, she gave all of her patients that much attention.”

Dr. Ghaly said Leslie was a case manager at Silver Cross Hospital – located in Joliet at the time – when he first met Leslie in 1996. She began making rounds with him at the hospital and became intensely interested in neuroscience, he said.

Together, they made many community presentations on stroke and neuroscience to different community groups, churches and nursing homes and helped bring awareness of both to the community, Ghaly said.

Leslie later worked for Ghaly in his Aurora office before moving on to Loyola Medical Center and finally St. Joe’s. On Facebook, Ghaly said Leslie’s “dedication, love, compassion, kindness and commitment were beyond any imagination” and that she was “the heart, ears, eyes, care, answers and minds for so many.”

Furthermore, Leslie wasn’t intimidated by hospital politics, but always worked for the good of her patients, Ghaly said.

“She should be in the history books for all nursing students,” Ghaly said.

Leslie Livett of New Lenox, trauma nurse coordinator at St. Joseph Medical Center, said she worked with Leslie for about 20 years. Livett called Leslie “the epitome of patient advocacy” and that “every nurse should be like her.”

If something wasn’t right with a patient, Leslie made it right, Livett said.

“There was never a better patient advocate than Leslie Barnes,” Livett said. “She would die on a hill for her patients. She would absolutely go to bat for them every single day, every single time, every single patient. She had a good heart and cared about every single one of them like her own family. … and she got to know their families and became friends with their families.”

When Leslie oriented new nurses on neuroscience, her presentations were engaging and in language the new nurses could understand, Livett said. Leslie was brilliant in her assessment of patients and extremely optimistic with those who had debilitating strokes, encouraging them with the attitude of, “It’s all about adapting,” Livett said.

“She was just a beautiful human being,” Livett said.

• To feature someone in “An Extraordinary Life,” contact Denise M. Baran-Unland at 815-280-4122 or dunland@shawmedia.com.