This year, the McGrath Foundation celebrates 10 years of placing McGrath Breast Care Nurses in communities across Australia as well as increasing breast awareness in young people. As part of these celebrations comes Take My Hand ‘ a new book featuring fourteen extraordinary stories from McGrath Breast Care Nurses and their patients, as told to journalist Jo Wiles.
When Jane McGrath met breast care nurse Alison Szwajcer after her diagnosis of secondary breast cancer her words were, ‘Today I met an angel’. It was then she realised she could make a difference to all people experiencing breast cancer in Australia ‘ to help them and their families through this confusing, upsetting time. Her wish was to make sure that every family going through breast cancer had an angel by their side ‘ someone to talk through the practicalities of the medical journey but also to help keep life on track. This is how the McGrath Foundation was born.
Take My Hand includes an introduction featuring Jane McGrath’s best friend and McGrath Foundation Ambassador and Director, Tracy Bevan who said, ‘As the McGrath Foundation celebrates its tenth anniversary, there are now more than 100 McGrath Breast Care Nurses across the country. I know Jane would be so humbled and proud to see how far the Foundation has come and to be able to share just some of the stories of our nurses and the wonderful families they support.’
In Take My Hand readers meet fourteen courageous breast care nurses from all corners of the country, whose stories bring the work of the Foundation to life. One nurse arranged for a ‘roo-sitter for a patient’s pet joey while she had surgery; another empowers her patients with sexual health and wellbeing workshops; and another grew so close to a beloved patient she was asked to give the eulogy at her funeral.
Take My Hand is a moving tribute not only to Jane McGrath’s enduring legacy, but also to the strong bonds that can form between nurses and their patients.
All royalties from this book will go to the McGrath Foundation to continue their work in funding breast care nurses and increasing breast awareness.
The book is available in all good book stores in paperback with a recommended retail price of $32.99.
