‘Each and every nurse who helped save my life…I will be forever grateful.’
Carol Mavin, who’s from Lynemouth in Northumberland, was diagnosed in February 2019 with a form of leukaemia.
After being diagnosed, she was admitted to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, and was moved straight into intensive care for a week.
Once Carol had started chemotherapy treatment, she was moved to Ward 33. This is a specialist ward for patients being tested or receiving treatment for blood-related conditions, such as blood cancer. Two weeks into treatment, Carol says a lovely nurse called Esther shaved her hair, as it was beginning to fall out in clumps.
After spending four weeks in hospital, Carol was able to go home, with her chemotherapy treatment continuing as a day patient. She says, ‘Each and every nurse who helped save my life…I will be forever grateful.’
On the 31st of March 2020, Carol sadly relapsed and was admitted back into hospital, where she spent three weeks undergoing a further course of chemotherapy. At this point, Britain had been under lockdown restrictions due to COVID-19 for just over a week.
Carol says, ‘With the pandemic going on, the nurses went out of their way each and every minute of every day to make us all feel comfortable, and kept us going with no visitors. So not once, but twice, they have saved my life.’
Carol is determined to give something back to Ward 33, and to the Bright Red sponsored nurses who helped to support her through such a challenging time. She and her auntie, Anne, plan to fundraise for Bright Red by walking two hundred miles, beginning on the 1st of June.
‘I’m hoping to raise as much as I can. I haven’t got a limit, but every little helps Ward 33. Bright Red have an amazing team, and do an amazing job.’
On behalf of everybody at Bright Red, we would like to say an enormous thank you to Carol for her generosity – and we wish her all the best for her upcoming challenge!