AN OXFORD nurse has been named in a top 100 of people who make the country a better and happier place to live.
Specialist nurse Helen Stradling has been named in a ‘Happy List’, published in the Independent on Sunday.
She works as a Macmillan Musculoskeletal Cancer Nurse Specialist, caring for patients with primary bone cancer at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (NOC), in Headington.
The Independent on Sunday listed Mrs Stradling, 34, alongside charity founders and campaigners.
The entry for Mrs Stradling, who grew up in Northway, Oxford, but now lives in Carterton, reads: “An angel on earth, serene, calm and reassuring, is how patients have described this Macmillan cancer nurse.
“She makes a massive difference to people’s lives at Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, and was named as the country’s top cancer nurse by the Nursing Times in 2010.”
The former Cheney School pupil has worked as a Macmillan cancer nurse at the NOC for the last 12 years. 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.
Mrs Stradling was selected from hundreds of applicants for The Nursing Times Awards and won from a shortlist of three last year.
She had nursed 15-year-old Jake Spicer, from Blackbird Leys, during his brave battle with bone cancer. He passed away in July 2009.
Mrs Stradling said: “I am 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.”
Sue Wheeler, inpatient service manager and matron att the NOC, said: “Helen’s role can sometimes be difficult and challenging however she always remains optimistic, positive and cheery.”
Philanthropist and Oxford academic Toby Ord, who has pledged to give £1m over his lifetime by donating a third of his salary, was also named in the awards.
Mr Ord has recruited more than 100 people to give at least 10 per cent of their salary for life.
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