It is more important to me than ever that staff at The Christie get vaccinated against flu - Olivia Samuel

Olivia Samuel

Olivia Samuel, Christie patient and nurse

I am a 34 year old married mother of two. My oldest Ava is six and my youngest Finn is one. I work as a senior sister at The Christie and have worked here for over 10 years.

As a nurse it has always made sense to me to receive the flu vaccination, to protect myself from becoming ill and requiring time off work, but also to protect my patients from accidentally contracting the flu from me.

Every year around this time, I have been part of the team of nurses who offer and administer the flu vaccination to Christie staff. Part of this role has always been to help staff to understand the importance of having the vaccination, and encourage them to take it.

This year though, I won’t be part of the team of nurses vaccinating Christie staff. This is because at the beginning of May I experienced pain in my left arm and as I tried to establish the location, I came across a large lump deep down inside my armpit.

Running a busy ward and home and trying to prepare for a big brass band contest, I assumed that I was a bit run down and would soon come down with a virus.

After a few days I decided that a trip to the medical centre would be appropriate to 'rule out' anything nasty. On my second visit the GP alerted me to two breast lumps which came as quite a surprise. From here I was referred to the rapid breast clinic. This is the point where I diagnosed myself with breast cancer which I believed had spread to my lymph nodes.

Despite many peoples’ attempts at reassurance, I knew what this was. There was a painful two week wait to be seen at the breast clinic.

On the 18th May, I saw a breast surgeon who following examination performed an x-ray on the breast (a mammogram) and an ultrasound guided biopsy, which involved removing a sample of tissue from the breast and under arm lump for examination.

I went on to have a full body scan and bone scan to check for any further spread beyond my lymph nodes.

On the 3^rd of June, I was informed that I had stage 3 invasive breast cancer with extensive lymph node involvement. I was pleased to hear that the bone scan and body scan were clear. I didn’t feel like the diagnosis was much of a shock at this time, it was what I was expecting. It was incredibly difficult to deliver the news to my mum and dad and in particular my six year old daughter.

I was informed that I would need seven cycles of chemotherapy, followed by surgery, radiotherapy and then hormone therapy. I couldn’t believe that I would be going through the treatment I had watched so many of my patients go through.

I have taken time out of work to have this treatment and I am being treated at The Christie, I know I am in good hands.

Now that I find myself as the cancer patient and not the nurse, it is more important to me than ever that staff at The Christie get vaccinated against flu. I am pleased that The Christie takes such an active stance in vaccinating staff to protect them from getting flu and then risking passing it on to patients.

Since being diagnosed with cancer, I have become increasingly aware of my risk of infection from others, a situation that I can feel more in control of in my home environment by asking people to stay away if they are at all unwell. I don't have this control in hospital, so knowing that staff and volunteers I come into contact with have been vaccinated against flu helps puts my mind at rest. I spend so many of my days in bed recovering from the effects of the chemotherapy that getting flu would not only set me back with my treatment, but it could be life threatening to me.

Looking ahead I have nearly completed my chemotherapy and will have surgery and radiotherapy to follow. It is a long pathway of treatment but I hope to complete it and be back to work soon. And hopefully next year I’ll once again be part of the team vaccinating staff against the flu!