Super nurse who cared for family's poorly children is nominated for award

THE mother of two Bournemouth children needing extensive hospital treatment has nominated their nurse for a national award.

The Daily Echo reported in November that Gabrielle Archers three-year-old son Isaac suffered life-threatening complications after contracting E coli, spending more than a month in hospital.

Ms Archer, who lives with her family in Boscombe, received the news in 2012 that her then one-year-old daughter Isabella was suffering with juvenile arthritis.

She was petrified, unable to walk and in constant pain, said Ms Archer. She had been poked and prodded so many times it was a struggle for anyone to get close. She could not have physio as she would just scream at her therapist.

That fear disappeared after they met Sarah Hartfree, a paediatric nurse at Southampton Childrens Hospital.

And when Isaac was being treated at the hospital last year Ms Hartfree was there again to offer support.

Ms Archer continued: We were inpatients for six weeks and Sarah would come and check on Isaac and me, as well as popping in to examine Bellas legs as I was unable to make appointments.

The family is so grateful for Ms Hartfrees help that they have nominated her for the Yakult Patients Choice category of the Nurses Awards 2015.

We saw Sarah two or three times a week in those first few months of the diagnosis and she was there to reassure us as often as we needed it even if it meant returning our calls outside working hours, added Ms Archer.

Any signs of new disease or struggle with control of disease, she would have Bella booked into the next clinic and was always there to meet her with a huge smile.

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Super nurse who cared for family's poorly children is nominated for award