. ISSUE 21 | SPRING/SUMMER 2020
ON THE FRONTLINE: KIM AND MARTYN GIBBONS Our charity supported Kim to retrain as a nurse after her husband Martyn was operationally injured in Afghanistan. She is now working as an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) nurse, caring for patients with COVID-19 COVID19..
Kim, dressed in full PPE after a hospital shift.
“I trained as a theatre nurse.” Kim says. “My usual job involves caring for patients with cancers of the prostate, bladder and skin. But when COVID-19 hit, I was redeployed to the ICU almost overnight. We are the frontline, suited and booted, gowned and masked, helping patients on ventilators and blood filtration machines. It’s very challenging.” Kim has been a nurse for four years. She left her previous job when her husband Martyn sustained life-changing injuries during his final tour of Afghanistan. Martyn served with the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers for 17 years, including tours of Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Bosnia and Afghanistan. In 2009, Martyn was struck by a 82mm mortar fired by a recoilless rifle when his unit came under attack in Sangin. Despite sustaining serious injuries to both legs, he refused to leave his troops until he had briefed his second-in-command. He was subsequently awarded an MBE for his gallant and distinguished service.
Kim says: “We’ve had so much generosity from the public. Only today, I received some home-made scrub bags which means I can put my uniform straight into the machine without handling it. It’s something so simple but it’s incredibly appreciated.”
While Martyn was recovering at home, specialists trained Kim to administer his medication. One of the doctors from the local surgery recognised her abilities and encouraged her to become a nurse. Our charity supported Kim with an Access to Higher Education course, enabling her to study nursing at the University of Central Lancashire. She is now a qualified Staff Nurse for East Lancashire Trust. She was working as a theatre nurse when the coronavirus pandemic struck. Kim laughs: “So, I suppose if you think about it, ABF The Soldiers’ Charity got me into this!”
Martyn is a key worker at a local high school.
Martyn says: It’s scary when people’s lives are in danger. That is the same with the military on the frontline. It’s frightening, and anyone who says otherwise is lying.” Martyn himself is also a key worker. As a Head of Year at a local high school, he is responsible for supporting staff and students who are home-schooling. He says: “Although I’m a designated key worker, for me the really vital workers are the people working for the NHS like Kim. They’re the ones who are really doing their bit.”
Kim has nothing but admiration for the regular ICU nurses she supports, who work in incredibly challenging circumstances with the most severe cases of COVID-19. The work is fast-paced and fluid. One day, Kim might be in the theatres helping with caesarean sections and delivering babies of mothers who are suspected of having the virus; the next, she is ‘scrubbing up’ for emergency operations for patients who are in a critical condition. The camaraderie she shares with the other nurses is vital. Kim says: “I imagine it’s similar to the Army. You know that you’re in this together, and you support one another because you care about the patients.”
On behalf of the charity, I would like to say how incredibly grateful we are to Kim and all of her NHS colleagues for the work they are doing to support COVID-19 patients in hospitals across the UK. Brigadier (Ret’d) Robin Bacon, Chief of Staff, ABF The Soldiers’ Charity
15
