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Not going to let it set me back: How UAE nurse with cancer powered through without taking a day off

Sarah said one of the most important lessons she learnt was how nurses, herself included, ignore their health

When nurse Sarah Ilyas was diagnosed with breast cancer, she was determined she wouldn’t allow the uninvited intruder to disrupt her life and career. “I had worked hard all my life, climbing the ranks from a bedside nurse to getting into a managerial position and I was not going to let cancer take it all away from me or set me back,” said Sarah.

The Pakistani expat who works as the Chief Nursing Office at Aster DM Healthcare continued working full time throughout her cancer treatment. “There were days when I couldn’t get out of bed,” she said. “But even on those days, I had my laptop open, and I would be working.”

Going to bed after a long and busy day celebrating her son’s 13th birthday, Sarah felt a lump near her breast. The next morning the lump was still there. “My husband could feel it too, so immediately I got it checked,” she said. When the tests came back indicating that she indeed had breast cancer, Sarah did not dwell on it and decided to face it bravely.

However, Sarah admitted that there were several times when she felt vulnerable and scared. “One moment I distinctly remember is when I was getting my first chemo treatment and I felt like the nurse had inserted the catheter wrong,” she said. “I quickly jumped up and started fixing it and the next minute, I was crying.”

Sarah said that it was a big teaching moment for her personally as well as professionally. “Looking back, I know I shouldn’t have acted like that,” she said. “The poor nurse got frightened. But it was a reminder for me that as nurses you witness some of the most vulnerable moments of patients – moments when they are not completely in control of their emotions. So, I always advise the nurses who work with me to never take it personally when patients react in a bad manner.”

Support system

For Sarah, one of the most difficult parts of her journey was losing her hair after chemotherapy. “I was in denial,” she said. “After the first two sessions of chemo, nothing happened. So, I just believed that I wouldn’t lose any hair. After the third chemo, everything just fell out in clumps- from me head, my eyebrows and my eyelashes.”

When she visited the salon to get her hair shaved , Sarah broke down, but a stranger stepped in and comforted her. “She was a survivor too and she shared her story with me,” she said. “It was hugely comforting. Since then, we have started support programs for cancer patients at Aster. It is very important to have a support system outside of your family. You need to connect with people who went through what you are going through and who can guide you.”

Sarah said one of the most important lessons she learnt was how nurses, herself included, ignore their health. “We tell people to exercise, eat healthily and get regular checkups but we don’t do it,” she said. “We spend so much devoting ourselves to other people- whether it is our patients or our family that we end up ignoring our own health. That needs to stop. Only if we are healthy will we be able to take care of others.”

Nursing, a calling

Sarah, who came into the field of nursing to fulfil her mother’s wishes, said she quickly fell in love with the profession. “I realized that at the centre of soul, I had a service mentality,” she said. “And it is important to have that mentality to be a nurse. Nursing has to be a calling.”

She said many people come into the profession simply because it is well paying or has great job prospects. “But it is important to remember that it is a selfless profession where we often have to put ourselves in the shoes of others,” she said. “So, I always advise people to enter the profession only if they are ready to do it from their hearts.”

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