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- Meet Mcgrath Cancer Care Nurse David Brock
Meet McGrath Cancer Care Nurse David Brock
This International Nurses Day, we’re celebrating how McGrath Cancer Care Nurses change lives.
As our first male McGrath Cancer Care Nurse, David Brock is paving the way for others this International Nurses Day by providing life-changing care for people going through cancer.
“My goal is to take away some of the stress, anxiety and fear that goes along with being diagnosed with cancer and going through treatment.”
- David Brock
David became a McGrath Cancer Care Nurse in October 2024 and has been a cancer care nurse for 14 years. He says he decided to become a nurse after some family experiences with cancer.
“I knew from the first minute I walked into the oncology ward that this was where I wanted to work,” he says. “I say to people all the time that we have the best patients in the world. They’re an incredibly resilient bunch of people.”
He adds that working as a McGrath Cancer Care Nurse allows him to make a difference to people’s lives being “being involved with my patients all the way through their experience”.
“Being a McGrath Cancer Care Nurse is so different to any other role I’ve work in previously in oncology. I love being part of an organisation where the pure focus is on looking after people going through cancer and treatment. It’s very much a nurse-led organisation, and the training and support you get it second to none. I haven’t experienced that before.
“If I can impact on their experience, and if they know that there is someone there that they can call any time they need, whether it’s for information about a side effect they’re having, or if they’re just having a bad day, then I’ve done my job.”
Jade Wendt, 45, had just finished supporting her mum through breast cancer when she was diagnosed herself. Four months later, her husband David, 44, “stole her limelight” when he was diagnosed with renal cancer while she was midway through her third round of chemotherapy.
Every day, Michiko Ban provides life-changing care to people going through cancer, and their families. This International Nurses Day, Michiko reflects on her role, and the impact it makes to people during their diagnosis and treatment.
Kristyn Schilling joined the McGrath Foundation in late 2024 and is one of our first specialist nurses providing care to people going through Gastrointestinal, Genitourinary & Gynaecological Cancers.
Marie Laing has been a cancer care nurse for 17 years and is based in Canberra. She is one of our first McGrath Cancer Care Nurses to specialise in lung cancer.