NUN, single mother, nurse, hospice founder – no label sums up one of Oxford’s most inspirational women.

Sister Frances Dominica is the founder of East Oxford’s Helen & Douglas House, the world’s first children’s hospice.

Now 68, Sister Frances was born Frances Ritchie in Inverness in 1942, and lived with her grandfather, a Church of Scotland elder, and her mother in Greenock until she was four.

When her father was ‘demobbed’ after the war, she moved to Petersham, Surrey, where she attended primary school, and went on to study at Cheltenham Ladies College where she became convinced she wanted to be a nurse.

She started training as a paediatric nurse at the Hospital for Sick Children at Great Ormond Street, London, in 1961.

Despite her family’s religious links, she did not become involved in the church until meeting an Anglican vicar while working at the hospital – and in 1966 realised she wanted to be a nun, joining the Society of All Saints of the Poor.

It led to problems with her family, who did not approve of her decision.

After being elected as mother superior she became friendly with the parents of a little girl, Helen, who had a brain tumour and needed 24-hour care.

Once Helen was discharged from hospital, Sister Frances asked if her parents would ‘lend’ her their daughter so they could have a break, and the idea of a children’s respite hospice was born.

Sister Frances said: “Today the ethos is the same as it was then, about friendship and practical support and walking the walk with people who are on a very difficult and painful journey.”

A huge fundraising campaign was launched in 1980 and Helen House opened its doors for the first time in 1982.

In a visit to Ghana in 1988, Sister Frances adopted a baby boy she met in the hospital there, Kojo, who is now 24, and added single mother to her string of achievements.

She said: “Every time I get asked what I do when I am introduced to someone new, I wonder what the appropriate answer is because I do have various different hats.

“I’m just Frances and I am a very privileged person – privileged to have the freedom to become involved in all sorts of things and all sorts of people.”

In 2006, Sister Frances was presented with an OBE, and in 2007 she was named Woman of the Year for her work establishing the world’s first children’s hospice.

Sister Frances still gets to know many of the children, young adults and families that use the services, and is in the two houses most days.

Through her work, she has met royalty, world leaders and celebrities, some of whom she counts among her friends – as she is a friend to the families who she has helped over the past 29 years.

The Oxford Mail will be running features on the county’s hospices for the rest of this week. Don’t miss tomorrow to find out more about the donations which keep Helen & Douglas House running.