For World Cancer Day, we’re shining a light on the amazing people that provide care to the many children and young people at Alder Hey. Find out more about Helen and Robyn below.
Helen Paisley – Neuro-Oncology Clinical Nurse Specialist
A child’s oncology journey can vary differently and often be scary and uncertain, so it is the role of the clinical nurse specialist to help navigate, support and, provide expert tumour specific knowledge tailoring the support that we provide to the individual needs of the family.
I have the privilege of acting as our neuro-oncology (brain tumour) families keyworker. This means that I support children and their families from the point of diagnosis, throughout treatment and beyond. What I love about my job is working with our children and their families. Every day is a different day, so I have no typical day.
Neuro-oncology is a fast-evolving speciality. At Alder Hey we have been recognised as a Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence and this recognises the multidisciplinary excellent care we endeavour to provide to our families. As part of the neuro-oncology team we very much focus on this team approach and all work together to provide the care.
Education and sharing knowledge and experience is a passion of mine and I have the honour of being the founding chair of European Society for Paediatric Oncology (SIOPE) Brain Tumour Nursing group. The nursing group was established to bring together nurses across Europe as we work alongside the medical teams and think about care and support for our families. I also established the UK Paediatric Neuro-Oncology Nursing Group, which is also growing, and we now have all UK oncology centres represented and working together, sharing our knowledge and experience.
I always knew I wanted to be a nurse and specifically knew I wanted to work within oncology. When I completed my training, I spent a few years working on a general ward and then I specialised within oncology. It was when working on the oncology ward, I met the oncology outreach team and I saw the work that they did in supporting families both in hospital and at home and very much knew that this was the area I wanted to work.
The neuro-oncology field is evolving particularly with advancements in our understanding of the biology at the molecular level which is reflected in personalised treatment plans. Quality of life is very much at the centre of current trials and the holistic care we deliver, and with the advancements and ongoing collaborative approach, my overriding hope is to see further improvements in survival and life opportunities for our patients.
Robyn Cooper – Oncology Clinical Research Nurse
As an Oncology Clinical Research Nurse, I work in the delivery of clinical trials. My team is involved in setting up trials, screening eligible patients, data management, taking samples, giving medications, and providing information to families and patients.
Before moving over to research, I worked on an oncology/haematology unit since 2018, where I treated many different children with different diagnoses. This included patients from the beginning of treatment, right up to ringing the end of treatment bell or sometimes palliative care.
I always had a special interest in research and would always be happy to assist and learn about the different open clinical trials, which led me into the work that I do now.
As part of our roles, we work on diagnosis-specific trials and fertility, and we also assist with donated tissue and samples for future research. We work on an exhaustive list of trials open and in follow-up stages; some of our larger patient recruitment trials include ALLTogether, VIVO Biobank, HRNBL-2, and many more.
My hope is that we continue to find new treatments, and I have a positive outlook on the use and improvements of targeted drug therapies, which aim to improve survival and minimise side effects.
More about Oncology at Alder Hey