In school and college I never really knew what I wanted to do when I “grew up”.

My mum was a nurse and I liked the idea of being able to help people so when the time came I applied to study nursing and got a place at Edge Hill University.

3 weeks before I started my nursing degree my father was diagnosed terminal cancer and had a prognosis of 3 weeks to live. Despite the odds my Dad fought and lived until December 10th 2013. 

That experience changed me in many ways as one could imagine , but beyond many other emotions I was inspired. My Dad had a nurse from the palliative care team caring for him who changed everything for me , I saw the comfort and confidence this nurse brought to my Dad in the face of his own mortality and I knew in that moment that this was what I wanted to be, a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Palliative care. Those 3 months , in which my father had an incredible quality of life and comfort because of this one nurse changed the game for me, I didn’t just want to be a nurse anymore I knew that I HAD to be a nurse , it was my passion and my goal.

After my Dad passed away I worked hard to complete my degree. In 2017 I qualified as an adult nurse and got my first job as a staff nurse in the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre , I worked here for two years caring for cancer patients , providing both curative treatments and end of life care to patients aged 16 onwards. I then became a deputy ward manager on this same ward and welcomed the new challenge , I studied and worked and pushed through because I knew it would lead me to my dream job and the career that I had always been so passionate about.

In December 2021 amidst the pandemic my dreams came true and I started my role as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in palliative care , working alongside the incredible team who had once cared for my father. The pandemic was a heartbreaking and truly challenging time for us all but through supporting one another we always pushed through no matter what we saw in a day and how it effected us we rose to the challenge for our patients and for each other. This has been a truly humbling time in my life.

Through the pandemic I felt I needed to do more and have also began working in a local COVID vaccination centre in my free time to help protect the most vulnerable of our country and prevent the spread of the virus.