Collette completes her mother's wish

A Merseyside woman who followed her mother?s dying wish for her to become a nurse joined 200 health professionals who graduated from Edge Hill with nursing and midwifery degrees and diplomas on Saturday.

It is five years since 30-year-old Collette Hitchmough from West Derby, nursed her terminally ill mother, with her sister Sandra. Now her mother?s wish has come true as Collette graduated with a Diploma in Adult Nursing and looks forward to a career in peri-operative care at Leeds General Infirmary.

Collette said: "I used to work as a telephone operator for a deaf charity but I spent a lot of time caring for my mum during her illness. She encouraged me to take up nursing professionally as she said that I would make a really good nurse. I didn?t think at the time that I would. It seemed natural for me to care for my mum when she was ill and not really a vocation."

But following her mother?s death in 2001 Collette decided to enrol on the Diploma in Nursing based at Edge Hill?s Aintree Campus and since that time she has never looked back.

"I wasn?t sure which area of nursing to follow. My experience of caring for my mum and also my nan before they died led me towards a career in palliative care and I worked in the Marie Curie Hospice for a time."

Collette then went on to carry out a placement assisting surgeons in the operating theatre and enjoyed the experience so much that she decided to specialise in theatre nursing.

"I really enjoyed the very different environment of perioperative care and was able to change my route on the course to specialise in theatre nursing. I like to think that my mum would be proud of me and although it's been hard work I?m thrilled to graduate with my diploma."

Collette is looking forward to taking a well-earned break on an all expenses paid holiday to Cuba, courtesy of the ITV show Celebrities under Pressure. Having been chosen from around 500 families to take part in the show broadcast last year, Collette, who lives with her sister, shared their home with Neighbours actor Daniel McPherson who completed a challenge to win them the luxury holiday.