Proud mum of six overcomes adversity to graduate with First Class Honours in Nursing
Catherine McLaughlin (37) from Belfast will graduate today (Thursday 17 December) with a First Class Honours Degree in Adult Nursing from the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Queen¡¯s University Belfast.
Catherine is a proud mum to her six children: Stephen aged 19, Saoirse aged 15, Aobh aged 13, Caitl¨ªn aged 10, Fianna Rose aged 6 and Tom¨¢is¨ªn aged 4. Catherine has had to overcome many of life¡¯s challenges to graduate today. Her mum passed away from breast cancer when Catherine was fifteen at aged just 32. Three of her children are autistic; her youngest child Tom¨¢is¨ªn has a severe developmental delay and her second youngest was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes during her first year of study at Queen¡¯s.
She says: ¡°Like so many folk I am sure, I had multiple personal issues that had the potential to stop me in my tracks. In the middle of my GCSEs, my mum had just passed away and I was struggling to keep up. I decided it was too much and left. It had always been my dream to be a nurse or a midwife, as it was my mums.
¡°At 32, by then married myself and having just given birth to my fifth child, I decided to pursue the career again, so I enrolled onto a health and social care A-Levels course. Within three months of the course, I discovered baby number six was en route. With the support of the college and my family I continued my studies and applied to Nursing and Midwifery at Queen¡¯s and was beyond excited when offered a place on their adult nursing course. It was a dream come true!¡±
Sadly, for Catherine, in her final year at university, her husband and youngest daughter were involved in a very serious car crash, being hit by a stolen vehicle. Bravely, and with the support from her friends, family and the nursing staff at Queen¡¯s, she continued to excel and pursue her dream of becoming a nurse.
She said: ¡°The impact of it all saw a great mental and emotional struggle on our family, causing long term issues with my daughter who still struggles with sleep and detachment issues today.
¡°The positive from this though was that with great support from my family, peers and the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Queen¡¯s, it never deterred me from keeping going. I always try to see the positive in everything, keep smiling and keep on keeping on. I feel that¡¯s one of the best traits of being a nurse.¡±
Despite being a busy mum of six, Catherine has played a key role during the pandemic. In her final year of nursing, she was asked to join the workforce early due to the increasing number of hospitalisations from COVID-19. She also became an advocate for other nurses to ensure they were kept safe at work.
Speaking about joining the frontline early, she commented: "It was a challenging and unprecedented time; however, I feel there were a lot of positive moments and achievements for me personally. I felt we as nurses needed our voices heard and so I quickly engaged communications with our Head of School regarding student safety and protection. This was also a great concern for the School as much as for the student body. I felt great support from them.
¡°I set up a student group in response to COVID-19 so that we could engage with the School of Nursing and Midwifery to overcome any issues that might arise as quickly as we could. This was positively received by the School. I was discovering leadership skills within me that I never would have believed existed.
¡°I also represented the student body on the rapid response team, the education committee and on the Queen¡¯s Connections Team (an outreach team to engage and support the mental and emotional health and well-being of students at this difficult time). The Queen¡¯s Connections Team was such a valuable support mechanism for students at this time, and I was honoured to be a part of it.¡±
The future is looking bright for Catherine as she is currently working as a Band 5 nurse at in the Surgical Vascular Ward in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. She said: ¡°I am incredibly proud of myself and excited about graduating. I have had to overcome a lot, but I managed to keep my positivity throughout.
¡°I am excited about the future and I know my mum would be so proud of me.¡±
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