Rachel Ohene-Adjei signed up for GCSEs in maths and English shortly after her husband, Eric, died in April 2021 after seven weeks in intensive care at the University Hospital of Wales (UHW) in Cardiff. Inspired by the care he received, she went on to study nursing and has now graduated, saying she “won't give up” in her search for a job.
Rachel, 44, from Cardiff, is graduating at a time when there are fewer vacancies in the profession. Last month, the NHS workforce organisation Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) confirmed that almost 400 nursing and midwifery graduates remained without NHS positions after the first round of job matching. Rachel said she was unsuccessful during the first round of applications, but remained hopeful in the second after applying for three new positions.
“I won't give up. I have to be a nurse. I've worked too hard to show my children that anything's possible. So, I will get a job,” she said.
How did Rachel’s nursing journey begin?
Rachel’s journey to becoming a nurse began in 2003 when she met Eric in a “love at first sight moment” in a bar. The couple married four years later and had three children together.
Rachel said she “didn't enjoy learning in school”, left without passing GCSE maths and English, but said Eric helped build up her confidence.
“My husband was always such a supportive, positive person,” she said.
Eric tested positive for Covid in February 2021 and was admitted to UHW but died a few months later.
“Seeing that care that he was given just put something in my head that I just needed to help and care for people,” she said.
After his funeral, she applied to do the GCSEs before enrolling on an access course in nursing and then a university nursing degree, which she graduated from last week.
How did Rachel manage study and family life?
Rachel said it was sometimes difficult to juggle her studies with her parenting commitments, including pulling some “all nighters” to study.
“[My children] are active so I'd have to come home, take them to their football or rugby or dance, or to their friends' house because they're really social – I had to really set myself targets at times when I could and couldn't do things. And it was a lot,” she said.
“I just felt like, am I making a mistake? I'm just taking so much time away from my family to do this, is it worth it?”
She said it was also challenging because she was “never very good in school”, but she was determined to keep going with the help of her family and friends. Part of that determination was to prove to her children that she could do it.
“They knew I was doing it to show them that it doesn't matter what happens in life, or how old you are. If you want to do something and you put your mind to it, then you can do it.”
What did her daughter say at the graduation?
Speaking to the BBC at the graduation ceremony, the couple’s 13-year-old daughter, Ebony, said she was “very proud” of her mum “for everything she's gone through”.
“Obviously with my dad dying, it's been so hard for her. And I've tried to help her through it a lot.”
Rachel said at the graduation ceremony it didn't “feel real”.
“I can't believe I've done it. I've got this one friend who always said you should be a nurse. And I'm like, I can't. I'm not clever enough. And… I've done it.”
Asked what Eric would make of her graduating, she said:
“He would just be immensely proud, he always was.”
