On this date in 1986, I entered the College of Nursing at Craigavon Area Hospital and into a career that I continue to love and cherish every day. I can remember the faces and some names of the people whom I nursed in those early months and years, people living with uncertainty and doubt, pain and distress, many people over these years I have been blessed to help and I am grateful for the mentors who have guided me, the colleagues over the years whom I have nursed alongside, the fun we have had and for the opportunities that nursing has provided me.

A prayer of thanks based on Psalm 146, ‘Praise the Lord, let all that I am praise the Lord! Thank you Lord for helping me to be a helper. My hope is in you, who opens the eyes of the blind, who lifts up those who are weighed down, who cares for the orphans and the widows. Thank you for helping me to be a nurse. Be close to me and all nurses this day and forever. Amen’. 🙏