Friendship unites graduating students through toughest of times

Two Nursing students have finally had the chance to experience graduation day after a heroic fight against serious illness.

Kristin Hamill and Rebecca Leighton, who both went attended high school together in Greenock, started on the BSc Nursing Studies (Child) course at GCU in September 2019 and were due to graduate in 2022 before fate took a cruel turn.

This is their incredible story:

Kristin

“I was on my final placement in June 2022 and I’d finished all my coursework. At the time, I was complaining about abdominal pain for quite a while, and I’d been back and forward to my GP. I ended up taking ill on the morning of the June 28th. I was found in the house going in and out of consciousness, vomiting blood. I’d basically had a major haemorrhage and I got rushed to hospital. It was all as a result of sepsis in my abdomen, but no-one actually knows where the sepsis came from.

“I was in intensive care and on dialysis for four and a half months in Ward 4A at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH). The sepsis basically put me into kidney, liver and heart failure.

“I was then moved to Ardgowan Hospice for palliative care treatment and also in and out of hospital for dialysis every two days. I was basically told that I’d never be fit enough for transplant because of my heart and my liver being in such a bad way. My family were always there for me from 8am to 10pm every day, and they really did keep my spirits up. However, I obviously knew as a nurse what being on dialysis meant. I was well aware my kidneys had completely failed, and I ended up being at the point where I genuinely felt too sick to care.

“Things changed just before Christmas 2022 – I was told I might actually be able to get a kidney transplant if my body started adapting to the dialysis. I then continued on dialysis for another year at Inverclyde Royal Hospital while my family all started getting tested to see if they were a transplant match. It turned out both my brother and my sister-in-law were. My brother, Brendan, then gave me one of his kidneys on the 6th of December last year.

“I’m really lucky that my family are very close. My brother would never go to the doctor or the dentist because he’s so scared of hospitals, but when it came to me being sick he just did everything he could. The transplant literally saved my life.

“Part of my liver is still in liver failure and I’m essentially always going to be in kidney failure because my brother’s transplant is basically a treatment rather than a cure. My kidney could completely fail tomorrow and I’d be back on dialysis, but I think that’s really changed my perception on life. There were a number of times when my family was called to hospital because they thought I was going to pass away, but I’m still here. I’ve now got my own house and I’m graduating from University. I’m so lucky to be living a relatively normal life now.

“I knew I wanted to do something for the people who helped me most throughout my journey. Greenock is quite a small place – everyone knows everyone, and word about what I was going through definitely got out. The support across the town and Inverclyde as a whole was absolutely incredible.

“I managed to raise more than £14,000 for the nurses that looked after me in the QEUH and the Dialysis Unit at Inverclyde Royal Hospital. I had a GoFundMe and one of my old neighbours, Lynne Docherty, organised a massive ladies night for me. I also held a race night as well. I think the main motivation was just showing how grateful I was to the nurses who helped me so much throughout what was undoubtedly the toughest period of my life.

“When I eventually went back to University to finish my management placement I felt like I was so much more aware around how to care for patients. It was just different because I’d been a patient for so long and I always think about how well my parents were treated. It was all these silly things - like having cold water jugs in the fridge - that just made such a difference.

“I’m so proud to now be graduating as a nurse and to have that opportunity to give something back to the profession that kept me going during my darkest time.”

Rebecca

“It was May 2022, and I’d finished our second last placement of third year on a Saturday. On the Sunday, I was driving my car to pick up my nephew and a car was on the wrong side of the road. It was driving in the wrong direction and we were in a head-on collision.

“I started to experience a numbness about four weeks after the accident alongside all my other injuries; I was really badly bruised in my abdomen and shoulders from the whiplash. I knew the numbness I was feeling in my legs just wasn’t right. I then started losing bladder function and the numbness started to spread all through my lower half. I went to hospital, basically just to get some reassurance, and the nurse asked me if an ambulance or my boyfriend would get me quicker to the Royal Alexandra Hospital. It was a pretty terrifying thing to hear, especially as a nurse when you know the worst case scenarios.

“I sat in hospital in the trauma assessment unit for about five hours and hadn’t even told my mum and dad because I just clinged onto the hope that I was going to be fine. I was actually meant to be getting an MRI and had fasted all day, but they don’t usually do MRIs at the weekend so I was eventually sent home. I got back to Greenock and was about to tuck into a KFC when I got a phonecall from a doctor saying if I could get to the QEUH as quickly as possible. I’d been sobbing when I left Paisley because my symptoms had become so severe – the numbness had got worse and my bladder and bowel function wasn’t good.

“When I got to the Queen Elizabeth I was actually admitted to a ward, which really upset me. I think I’d been playing it down in my head a bit, so it was a shock to me. I was told the likelihood was I’d get my scan and would be out in the morning. Instead, I got my scan and I was then rushed to emergency surgery at 3am.

“I got a microdiscectomy, which basically involves them shaving away a disc in your back to help relieve pressure. At that point, they didn’t know if I’d be able to walk again or urinate myself. It was terrifying waking up and not knowing what your life was going to look like. I was put on crutches after the surgery, but there has been a lot of side effects. I’ve got no sensation at all in my left leg to this day. I can’t run and I can’t walk very long.

“With any surgery as well comes the risk of infection, and I was the percentage that ended up getting something called Discitis (a rare but serious infection of the spinal discs that can cause severe back pain and lead to paralysis if left untreated). I ended up being admitted to QEUH again and got a PICC line inserted into my arm.

“I then had eight weeks of IV antibiotics every single day. I also had the added trauma of my grandad passing away during that time. I was physically and mentally drained, and just wanted to be at home. Thankfully I was then trained up on how to administer my antibiotics so I could do it at home. However, nothing was ever simple, and my PICC line ended up becoming infected.

“There were lots of other ups and downs, but I ended up in a wheelchair and crutches until March 2023, so it was a long time. I then worked intensively with physiotherapy to try and live as normal a life as possible.

“I couldn’t have done any of this without the support of my family. I sobbed every time my mum and dad left me in hospital, they were just amazing. My partner, Nathan, works Monday to Friday 7.30am to 5.30pm and he was coming up straight from work to be with me. He even stayed to watch Love Island with me!”

Friendship

Rebecca: “My coursework and getting the chance to finish my degree was always on my mind – I know Kristin was the same. I was out of university from May 2022 and eventually returned in September 2023. Kristin was May 2022 and returned in April 2024.

“I remember sobbing in my car on the first day back at placement because Kristin and I had always done it together - my worst fear was graduating without her. We started the journey of University together and we were meant to finish it together.”

Kristin: “We’d always dreamed of graduation and what we would wear. We’d spoken about the chance to go to Grad Ball and then hopefully working together one day. We were very much two chatty outgoing girls who just became a shadow of ourselves, but now we’re ready for a new chapter.”

Support from GCU

Rebecca: “I think we definitely both want to say that the University has been fantastic throughout our time off. Anne Weir, who’s no longer at the University, had regular check-ins with us. She was an amazing lecturer and took such great care of us when we were off.

“My return to studying at GCU was seamless. Jennifer Rankin was really helpful in organising everything for me. Barbara Wilson also made sure each placement suited my needs – I wasn’t allowed to do night-shifts or even stand for very long. I would have never got back to nursing without the support from University.

“Kristin and I were worried when we came back that we wouldn’t fit in with our new year group, but they’ve been so welcoming. It has been difficult because the people we started our degree with have been working for two years, but this is our time now! “

Graduation

Kristin: “I just never ever thought that I would get to this point. I’m well aware that I wouldn’t be here without my brother and the support of my family. There is no way I’d have been able to make it into University if I was still on dialysis, never mind finish a placement. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to describe how grateful I am.”

Rebecca: “I wouldn’t be here without my family and friends. That support from them and also GCU made it possible for me to return and have this opportunity to graduate.

“I’m just grateful. We still have our wobbles and we still have our treatment plans but we’re ready to start life again.”

By Ross Clark     
Got an SHLS or GSBS story? Email me at Ross.Clark@gcu.ac.uk or message me on Twitter