Most of us consider nursing an early vocation – especially the trials and tribulations involved in being a children's nurse. But Sharon Chalkley had chosen a career in business before deciding to defer her academic ambitions to travel around the world. When this led to a period working as a nanny in the States, she decided that working with children was really what she wanted to do.

An intensive care nurse at London's Great Ormond Street hospital, her additional role as retrieval nurse can take her anywhere in the country, often with less than half an hour's notice. Travelling by ambulance, helicopter or aeroplane to move seriously ill children to intensive care units around the UK adds to the intense pressure of nursing the very young and the very ill.

'You devise your own coping mechanisms,' she explains. 'When I come home after a shift I try not to think about what I've been doing during the day.' Having her own daughter three years ago only intensified the pressures.
'As a mother I totally understand what each family of a sick child is going through, it makes it much more personal in a way. But it is dangerous to put yourself too much in their situation, to start to think, my God, what if it was my daughter. I can't allow myself to think like that or I would be no use to them.'

Returning to work after her maternity leave was a huge wrench for Sharon – both personally and professionally.

'I loved being at home with my daughter and when the time came to return to work I really thought I didn't want to leave her. And also I was scared – I worried I might have lost my skills after being away, I worried about juggling my new roles.'
But it turned out to be a highly positive experience. 'Doing my job makes me feel good about myself. At the end of the day I feel pride I've done a good job.'

'I come away thinking I've increased my self worth and value'

Striving to do a good job and take on new challenges is clearly something she relishes. Because as well as being a working mum and the main carer for her daughter, she has found the time to do a nursing degree, and earlier this year completed a BSc in Paediatric Nursing. And yes, that probably was as difficult as it sounds.
'I'd put my daughter to bed and then turn on the computer and start typing,' she says ruefully. 'But when I got my thesis bound and handed in, it felt wonderful.'

She testifies to the support of her family and friends to help her through the difficult times. Growing up in a close knit Catholic family, she talks about her childhood as a very happy 'normal' experience.
'But my life is very different to that of my mum's,' she reflects. 'I was with my husband for 16 years, he left when our daughter was one. It's not that unique any more, divorce has become more prominent. In a way that helps, to know there are people going through the same stresses, who have the same pressures. And friends and family are very important in my life – that's where I get my support.'

She is aware of the emphasis in today's world to have it all, to have the career and to be a good mother – but feels that we make our own pressures to a certain extent. 'What pressure this puts on you depends on the type of person you are, if you are the type of person who buys into that 'have it all' philosophy without questioning it.'

Naturally, being a single mother brings its own pressures.

'It's lonely to be a mum on your own, especially at night time when my little girl is in bed – I can't go out, I can't even pop to the shop if I need something.' But she is very proud of the fact that so many of her ambitions in life have been achieved. Not that she's resting on her laurels.

'It's nice to have goals and aspirations – it's good to look at other women, to see what they are doing. I'm always thinking about the next step. It's good to feel I am making progress, to have an aim and a goal to reach.'

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