“Caring is ingrained in us. We’ll always be nurses, trying to help people.”

I started nursing in November 1975. That's 50 years next November. And I've been with Marie Curie for 27 years.

When I left school, you either stayed at home and looked after your parents or got married. You were a nurse, teacher, policeman, worked in a bank or became a secretary. My mum thought I'd make a good nurse. Maybe she saw something in a 17-and-a-half-year-old girl that I didn't see in myself.

The rapport with patients I loved from day one. I'm a helper at the end of the day. I suppose that's carried on all through my life. Everyone needs some care at some point, at differing levels, degrees, complexities and lengths. I've always been fortunate enough to be able to assist with that. And it's still a job that I love.

"Everything's quicker now – but I'm still interested in people"

Compared to when I started, everything's quicker. Everything's treated more quickly. But much the same as now, you were interested in people's families, their animals, the disappointments at their jobs, all those sorts of things.

When I walk out the house or sit with a patient at night, I make sure they feel safe and secure, that they've got everything at hand. And I'm still learning now.

"Listening and picking up cues is one of my favourite parts of the job"

Dame Cecily Saunders and Robert Twycross said that if you identify or ask the patient to identify the thing that is bothering them the most, if you try and solve that then lots of other problems underneath will be solved. How true that is.

Somebody might say, "I'm so fed up, I'm so upset", but then you unpick that they've been unable to pay their gas bill. You might not do it for them, but you facilitate how they can do it and then, amazingly, you see how other problems are resolved. You're listening to the cues to try and see which roads they're going to end up at, which is where the big problem is

So that was hard work, learning that, how to not miss cues, to listen and pick them up. That was a very rewarding part of my work and still is.

I remember looking after a lady in North Yorkshire. She was bedbound. I used to help her wash in bed. It took probably half an hour. But in that time we'd talk about her nutrition, what was bothering her, whether her son was coming. She could talk to me about anything and everything.

"You have to be cheeky to be a nurse at 67"

I'm quite grounded. There are things that get to you sometimes if you're busy or feel people are pulling on you when they can do it themselves. I'll also try to help people or do some extra work. That can get me down occasionally. But there's not much I don't feel I can cope with. That sounds big-headed but nothing much fazes me.

I was off sick for six months and I kept asking to go back but they wouldn't let me because I had some stents. In the end, I got them to let me go back. You have to be cheeky to be a nurse at 67 years' old. I missed it. I missed that routine, that discipline, which is what I've been used to all my working life, from 18.

For some of us, you can't take the nursing and caring aspect out of us. It's ingrained in us. We'll always be nurses, trying to help people. It's great I'm being paid, but sometimes I think I'm not bothered. You'd go the extra mile

I've just been very, very fortunate to have a job I've liked and to be able to probably help a lot of people. And they've helped me. That's the other thing about nursing. When you go see a patient you feel humbled by the care that family are giving to them, the sacrifice they're making, how lovely that is to see.

"I'm still just Sue. Just Nurse Sue."

We should be happy that we have a job that's so multidimensional, that we have the capacity to help people to return to a normal life.

On the difficult days, whether you're a nurse or not, just reflect on what you've done, what you've achieved, what you've learnt, and what you want to learn. There's always something to learn on those days. That's why they've been difficult, so you don't repeat that, so you learn and move forward, for yourself and others.

If people ask me what I am, I wouldn't say, "I'm a Senior Nurse at Marie Curie." I'd say, "I'm a nurse." I don't think the title is important, I think the 'nurse' is important. I'm still just Sue. Just Nurse Sue.

This International Nurse's Day, sponsor a nurse to help Marie Curie Nurses like Sue continue to provide the amazing care they do.

All rights reserved. Contact [email protected] for more information.