April 2022
Katie
Davidson
,
RN
Ward E39 - Paediatric Oncology
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
Nottingham
United Kingdom
Katie spent hours upon hours talking us through every question we had, making us laugh when we needed it and letting us cry when we needed it.
Our little boy T was diagnosed with cancer in August 2021, and we spent the majority of the last 8 months of his life being looked after by the incredible team on E39 at QMC. We were given the devastating news that T’s cancer had spread and was not curable. We made the decision to remain in the hospital on E39, whilst T was receiving end of life care as we had already built strong relationships with all the ward staff and knew that the care T would receive at this point would be second to none, and we were not wrong! Every single person who was involved in T’s care in those last 2 weeks was truly amazing, but one Nurse who stood out was Katie Davidson. One of the things she did that made a huge difference was to suggest getting a bariatric bed, so that we could both get in bed with our little boy and spend as much time cuddling him as possible. As well as this, she took on several extra shifts to give us continuity of care, especially in the final few days of T’s life. She made sure at every point along the way, that we were comfortable and on board with the decisions around the medications. She spent hours upon hours talking us through every question we had, making us laugh when we needed it and letting us cry when we needed it. Having your own child receive end of life care is not a position that anyone should ever be in, but with incredible Nurses like Katie around, it made that truly awful situation just slightly more bearable.