A couple who met and studied together at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) have now graduated to work for the NHS, after tying the knot on campus earlier this year.
Carys Lawley, who graduated from Paediatric Nursing this year with the Class of 2020, first met Ben Hillman in 2016 while Ben was studying Speech and Language Therapy at DMU. She also fell in love with the university, and joined DMU’s nursing course soon after. Now the two grads have moved down to Ben’s hometown in Essex, having both landed jobs with the NHS.
The pair got married back in March, just after Carys finished her studies, and celebrated their wedding with family and friends at The Venue@DMU.
She said: “It was ideal for our guests who were also students, as they already knew where it was! We feel so lucky. If it were any later, it would have been a different story.” said Carys.
“It was amazing to have everyone there. In hindsight maybe it was a bad thing, but nobody was thinking about social distancing back then.
“It was only when we were on our honeymoon that they started limiting the number of people coming to weddings, and then cancelling them altogether. And then everything was different by the time we moved to Essex.”
Carys was one of the new nurses who started working at the height of the pandemic in March, immediately after completing her course. She had secured her job at Basildon hospital the previous year, but never expected to begin her career in such extreme circumstances.
She said: “I was due to qualify anyway so I was already a registered nurse, but they fast tracked our submissions through the exam board to make sure we got our nursing registration.
“It’s been a bit scary, but you kind of let your instinct take over. I just tried to remember that I’ve spent three years learning how to be a nurse, so I just needed to believe in myself.”
“Things are changing every day, so I think everyone has got to be a little bit kinder to themselves, and take it as it comes.”
As a paediatric nurse, Carys’s profession focuses on children – who statistically have a less serious reaction to the virus. However, during the pandemic she received extra training in case their help was needed on the adult wards.
“It’s been strange working in children’s nursing at this time because it’s very much hitting older people more. Our children’s wards were taking people up to the age of 25 to relieve the pressure on the adult wards,” she said.
Her husband Ben also works for the NHS as a speech and language therapist, after graduating in 2019. In some good news during the crisis, he was recently awarded a promotion, and will be moving into a new speciality of social and emotional mental health. The role will involve helping children with behavioural problems, and supporting children in care.
“It was the topic he originally did his dissertation on, so he’s really chuffed that he is able to move into that niche area,” said Carys.
Although the couple are now enjoying their new jobs and living in their new home by the sea, Carys said how they will miss the campus and the university.
She said: “We have both really loved our time at DMU, it’s been so welcoming and supportive. We were so sad to leave.”
Posted on Friday 21 August 2020