‘Today I met an angel.’
These were Jane McGrath’s words when she met breast care nurse Alison Szwajcer after her cancer returned.
Jane’s wish was that everyone experiencing breast cancer have an Angel by their side - someone to talk through the practicalities of the medical journey but also to keep life on track at this upsetting time. This is how the McGrath Foundation was born.
Today there are more than one hundred McGrath Breast Care Nurses across Australia. These specialist nurses provide invaluable physical, psychological and emotional support from the time of diagnosis and throughput treatment.
Meet fourteen courageous breast care nurses from all corners of the country, whose stories bring the work of the foundation to life. There is Cathy Apelt from the Sunshine Coast, who arranged a roo-sitter for a patient’s pet Joey while she underwent surgery; the Mornington Peninsula nurse Jo Lovelock, who empowers her patients with wellbeing workshops; and Kerry’s Ernst from Canberra, who grew so close to a beloved patient she was asked to give he eulogy at her funeral.
