Hometown Hero: CHOP nurse inspired by sister with cerebral palsy

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Born 16 months apart, Taylor and Tiffany Gallo have always been inseparable.

"She's my older sister, the big sister, the bad one," Taylor joked.

Tiffany has cerebral palsy.

Even as a baby, Taylor loved to help take care of Tiffany, most of the time.

"I'd go to appointments with her and my mom before I started school and I said I would never do this. I hated going. I wanted to watch cartoons," said Taylor.

Many of those appointments were at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia where, 20 years later, Taylor works as a nurse in the pediatric intensive care unit.

"I guess it rubbed off on me and that's where I eventually wanted to end up," she said.

After 12 hour shifts in the hospital and grad school courses, she still makes time for her best friend and her first patient.

"Tiff idolizes her sister. She looks up to her; she can't wait until she walks through the door," said their mother, Joanne.

When the pandemic hit, Taylor cared for the sickest patients, as she always had. But for her, the stakes had never been higher. She had another life to protect at home.

"I would change in our garage and we would spray everything down. It was a little stressful just thinking about what you could bring home," said Taylor.

"It's stressful, but having everyone together and being able to have dinner together and do a lot of the stuff, we've bonded even more as a family," said their father, John.

To the world and the children at CHOP, Taylor is a frontline hero of this pandemic. But through her sister's eyes, Taylor has always been a hero.