Timeline

After being promoted to Lt Col and Senior Lecturer/ Researcher in the Academic Dept of Military Nursing based University of Birmingham, in 2017 I was 1 of only 700 globally awarded Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy for my contribution to higher education globally.

I became the Editor of a BMJ Military Health Journal. From this, I went on to support nurses who had never published before to publish in an international journal and to speak at international conferences.

After 6 years of IVF, my daughter Rodena was born. I learnt so much about the power of resilience by overcoming challenges through adversity and struggle. I live and breathe this stuff and this journey is why I’m so passionate.

I joined the Army at 31-years old to develop my career and travel the world. My 1st post was to Germany where I met my husband. I was posted to Cyprus, Balkans, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and I presented all over the world.

Whilst trekking in Nepal, we were caught in an avalanche and 30 people were caught under the falling rocks. After the guide didn’t know how to handle the situation, I took the lead. I organised everyone, got everyone to safety, got medical help and thankfully, everyone survived.

I was born at 28 weeks with just a 5% chance of survival. There were no baby clothes small enough to fit, and on my first weigh in, I was 2lbs at 10 days old!