‘An angel on earth”. That is how patients have described Helen Stradling, Oxford’s very own cancer nurse of the year.

Mrs Stradling, who grew up in Northway, but now lives in Carterton, was named the country’s top cancer nurse by health journal The Nursing Times this week.

The 34-year-old former Cheney School pupil has worked as a Macmillan cancer nurse at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (NOC) for the last 12 years.

In that time colleagues and patients say she has become a life saver, a counsellor and a friend to the thousands of bone cancer patients she has treated, many of them children and young people.

Last night, Liam Harrison, 24, of Kennington, said no praise was high enough for Mrs Stradling.

After the Watford FC fan was diagnosed with chondrosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, he said she went above and beyond for him, including twice securing him tickets for his favourite team. He said: “Nothing I can say could talk Helen up enough.

“If they could clone her and send her around the world, it would be a better place.

“She is the perfect example of what a Macmillan nurse is – serene, calm, reassuring.

“They say Macmillan nurses are like angels on earth, and that is what Helen was to me. An angel on earth.”

Father-of-two Michael Justice, 48, travelled from Milton Keynes for treatment at the NOC when he was diagnosed with chondrosarcoma in 2008.

He said: “Nothing is ever too much for her.

“She’s one of the family now.

“I call her my guardian angel, because that is what she has become to not only me, but my wife and my children too.”

Another former patient Abi Goodwin, 27, from Wallingford, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer, in 2007.

She described Mrs Stradling as her ‘rock’.

She said: “Congratulations to Helen. This award is well deserved and long overdue.”

Mrs Stradling was selected from hundreds of applicants for The Nursing Times Awards and won from a shortlist of three at the Hilton Hotel, London, on Wednesday.

She also nursed 15-year-old Jake Spicer, from Blackbird Leys, during his brave battle with bone cancer.

Mrs Stradling said: “If I can help make someone with a cancer diagnosis smile every day, then that is half my job done.

“I’m very passionate about caring for my patients and yes, it can be tough, but a lot of the time it is very rewarding as we are able to get patients through their treatments and out the other side.

“My favourite part of the job is face to face interaction with the patients, knowing they can come to me with any problems.

“While it was me who obviously won the award, I couldn’t have done it without the excellent team at the NOC.”

awilliams@oxfordmail.co.uk