Nurse Sophie’s long and winding road to success
WHEN Sophie Robinson, originally from St John’s Chapel was a little girl, she wrote in her primary
school book about her ambition to be a nurse when she grew up.
Sophie has achieved that dream but hers is a long and winding story of trauma, life-threatening
illness coupled with the will to live and determination to succeed. A mother of three, Sophie is
married to Marcus and the family live in Stanley, Crook.
She was inspired in the beginning by her aunt, Lynn McGuinness, who is a nurse and young Sophie
wanted to follow in her footsteps. And after later seeing how her then boyfriend, Marcus, suffered
with accident trauma in 2013 and for years afterwards following an injury playing football, her desire
for nursing as a career became even stronger.
Although she has always been supported by her mother and father as well as their partners, Ian
and Lin, what happened to Sophie in 2021 was beyond their help. Sophie had already started on her
journey to achieve her dream of becoming a nurse when in the summer of that year, she began
having problems with severe pain in her face and the inability to tolerate many everyday activities.
It was a difficult time for everyone as the whole world struggled to cope with Covid and its
effects. The NHS was under extreme pressure but Sophie managed to see a doctor and be diagnosed
with Trigeminal neuralgia, which had begun in her gums.
Although it was a battle, her will to succeed carried her through and she continued to attend her
placement at Teesside University. She had previously attended a pre-access course at Bishop
Auckland College. In the second year there, she was heavily pregnant with her son, Jasper John and
Covid descended but her incredible determination to succeed carried her through it all. She began
her degree course at Teesside University in January 2021.
The pain from the trigeminal neuralgia continued, which led her GP to investigate further and to
seek an urgent MRI scan for which Sophie had to wait four months and attended in February 2022. A
brain tumour was discovered and Sophie was introduced to her surgeon – John Crossman at the RVI
in Newcastle – who discussed the medical plan with her. He would attempt to remove some of the
tumour, followed by a course of radiotherapy to shrink the rest. It would be a difficult procedure
because the tumour was tangled around the nerves and there was a risk of causing permanent
damage.
“There were so many possible scary side effects but I remained positive and just wanted to be
fixed,” Sophie recalled.
At first it seemed that the odds were stacked against Sophie when, as she waited to go down to
the operating theatre, a major accident occurred on the A1 motorway and for a while her operation
was put on hold, waiting for an emergency patient to arrive for surgery. As it happened it wasn’t
necessary and Sophie was eventually taken down to the theatre later than expected.
The operation lasted 12 hours. Craniotomy was performed where the skull was opened up from
the top of her head to the bottom of her neck. Sophie had been told she would wake up in intensive
care and would be in hospital for around four weeks.
“I was out of hospital on day eight,” said Sophie. “It had been so hard – the kids couldn’t visit due
to visiting restrictions in the ward. I struggled to even lift my head off the pillow at first – it didn’t
feel like it belonged to me,” said Sophie. “I felt permanently drunk, I was confused and struggled to
string a sentence together but I wanted to get well and I worked hard with the physiotherapists and
managed to walk six days after the operation. That took the doctors by surprise!”
“It was easy for me – I was put to sleep – but it was very hard for my family. They didn’t know if I
would even wake up.
“Dr Crossman and the staff on both Intensive care and the neurology ward were simply amazing. I
can’t thank them enough.”
The radiotherapy treatment could only be given once in a lifetime and the medical team had a
difficult decision to make as to whether it should be given at the time or be kept in reserve for if the
tumour returned at a later date. As it happened, what was left of the tumour began to shrink itself
and to date radiotherapy hasn’t been necessary. Sophie has a remarkable outlook on life, saying,
“Going forward, I have learned to live with this fact that it could grow or change in the future but I
am okay with that.”
But the story of the tumour didn’t stop there. Because it was unusual for a person of Sophie’s age
to have this condition, it was sent to Manchester for testing. She had to wait seven days to find out
that the tumour wasn’t cancerous after all.
Sophie added, “They referred to it in my notes ‘an unfortunate one off event’ and that’s what
helped me through with a positive mental attitude.”
She was determined to recover enough to continue her nursing degree and that she did! Her and
her long-term partner, Marcus, had planned to get married in 2022 and Dr Crossman said he would
help her medically with that ceremony.
“But I wanted to be well enough to enjoy it so we postponed the ceremony and were finally
married in 2023 after 12 years together.”
Sophie eventually achieved her degree after a couple of hiccups caused by her illness and how it
had affected her memory. She will take part in the graduation ceremony later this year where her
proud family will witness the latest episode in her long journey to success.
And she now works as a qualified Staff Nurse in the trauma orthopaedics and plastics at the
University of North Durham hospital where she works alongside a great team. The team have been
with her throughout her ordeal and are very supportive and encouraging.
“People think I am completely well – I am so much better, I’m feeling amazing but there are
things that I live with now that I feel I need to share so people understand the recovery process”
Sophie added.
As a result of her illness and the life-saving surgery, Sophie lost the hearing in one ear. She
experiences problems with balance, some cognitive difficulties, fatigue, memory problems and
nightmares. Still she strives to work hard and be a wife and mother to Tyla, Darcey and Jasper John.
She acknowledges the enormous help she has had from friends, family as well as work and university
colleagues.
“I have so much love and support from Marcus, my parents and step-parents as well as my
mentors, especially my personal mentor, Will Storr – I wouldn’t be where I am now without him –
and the team I work with who have been through my return to university. They are all brilliant
people.”
Sophie’s story is one of strength, of determination and of success. She is an inspiration to all,
especially anyone who is suffering ill health or those who are on the point of giving up their dreams
because of a difficulty. There will not be many who have overcome so many difficulties to success as
Sophie has done but she had faith in herself and the ability to keep going despite the hurdles put in
her way. Her strong desire to help others back to wellness is nothing short of incredible and her own
experience aids that strong yearning.
Sophie’s mantra on her worst days and one she still uses to this day is ‘there is always someone
worse off than you, I will always be the lucky one’. A remarkable woman of substance without a
shadow of a doubt. And one whose childhood dream came true.
Congratulations Staff Nurse Robinson, your story can only encourage others to jump their own
hurdles to achieve success.
