Rini is a 32 year old Paediatric Specialist Nurse who came to the UK from Canada to work at Hillingdon Hospital. She was amongst a group of international nurses recruited by the NHS.
Tragically, last Spring, Rini was diagnosed with bowel cancer and needed urgent surgery to remove the tumour. She recovered well but, by August this year, became unwell again and was in lots of pain. She was transferred from Hillingdon Hospital to Michael Sobell Hospice for us to improve her pain and also to help her to get back to Kerala – her home town in Southern India – where her family live.
Once she was well enough, we worked with a doctor from her Indian Orthodox Church in Hertfordshire and Catherine, an amazing expert Flight Nurse (flightnurse.co.uk) to make Rini’s wish come true. The Church raised the funds for the repatriation and used their networks in Kerala to identify a hospital bed for Rini, whilst Nurse Catherine kept our patient safe on her long journey home. The role of our Hospice team was to get Rini well enough to travel and to keep her spirits high – and she told us that’s exactly what we did.
Rini travelled back to India on Saturday, 3rd October. She has already started her chemotherapy and we wish her a speedy recovery!
Our homes become incredibly precious when we are ill. The challenge for us, on this occasion, was that home was another country rather than Hillingdon, Hertfordshire or Harrow. We are delighted we were able to support Rini and hope she enjoys spending time with her family.
Hear Rini’s story in her own words in her video below.
