Faces of Suffolk

I have always loved helping and supporting others. I was particularly interested in working with children, having grown up in a large family with over thirty cousins. I started to learn about social work because my auntie was a foster carer. I built relationships with the children s...

We are often told follow our passions to get a great job or to earn lots of money. However, life can be more than that; we should focus more on what we can do for other people. I came to understand that following my passion is not enough for a happy life, it’s actually by helpi...

Before I was diagnosed with cervical cancer, I was a support worker for adults with learning difficulties. I had to stop when I got ill and when I came out the other side, I couldn’t return due to the after effects. I still wanted to do something, so I started working at Big C can...

I had my first of six liver transplants when I was months old and the second from a living donor, my mum. The impact of suddenly being told at six weeks that your child has liver disease and having to watch your son, firstborn, go through all this pain and trauma must have been unbe...

I always knew I wanted to work within the care setting. I considered dance, which is very different, but decided on midwifery because everything about pregnancy and how the baby develops really fascinates me. I’ve always found the human body interesting. Midwifery isn’t somethin...

I loved maths; it was all I had wanted to do. I went away to university and started my maths degree but in my first year, I fell ill quite suddenly. I remember the doctor saying to me, ‘we need to get you to hospital’. They couldn’t give me a diagnosis. At first, they thought ...

I’m from Galway in Ireland, and when I first moved to Ipswich, I didn’t really know anyone other than my family. I was a massive loner! That’s why I started training - I wanted something that would occupy my time. Back in Ireland, I was involved with sports all my life. I was ...

I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in the second year of my A levels. It was completely out of the blue and that was something I had to take on board whilst starting university. I was only diagnosed at 16 so it was quite a big change sitting my A level exams, starting university a...

I came here from Indonesia to study Psychology and Early Childhood Studies. It really interests me, especially the education side of it. I’ve seen a lot of poverty where I come from and I feel like if we could help people with things like education, it would be really good for the...

I came to England from Cyprus - it was quite a scary move to make. I always knew I wanted to come to the UK to study but I never wanted to go somewhere crowded, like London. I’m from quite a small place so Ipswich kind of feels like home. I don’t really get homesick much, I thin...

I have always loved science and I started off by going to med school. It wasn’t for me and I dropped out. I remember coming back and thinking, what am I going to do with my life?! I knew I always wanted to be a teacher; all I did when I was little was play teachers over and over. ...

I began studying Adult Nursing at another university, but after catching glandular fever, my health went downhill and I became too poorly to carry on. Going to uni was something I had always wanted to do, so dropping out was a really hard decision to make. It took ten years for me t...

In November 2014, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after years of struggling to understand why I behaved and thought in certain ways. I was working at the time, but the company wasn’t supportive and I ended up having to leave due to the discrimination I experienced. It was di...

It all started in high school when I studied Design and Technology and worked with resistant materials. That’s when I realised I wanted to go in to engineering. I started off as an apprentice, which was a bit more hands on. It’s quite a diverse industry; I’m studying Operation...

I was born in Bucharest, Romania. My school years were not easy; I was about 13/14 years old when my mum got really sick. I was about to go through a difficult exam at the time and my mum wasn’t feeling well…if my dad hadn’t gone to her at that moment, she wouldn’t be here a...

I really wanted to learn Makaton - children’s sign language. In college, I studied Children’s Care, Learning and Development and we spent two days a week on placement. I worked with this little boy who had autism; I loved him to bits and it’s honestly one of the most rewarding...

I started university in September 2013, excited to begin a new chapter in life. Unfortunately within the first few weeks, something changed. I wasn’t myself. I’d started to retract from myself and others completely. My friends and family were just keeping me afloat of the river ...

I applied for Midwifery but the year before I was due to go, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. I spent five weeks in hospital and had an operation. I was in recovery and started my course in February 2012, but became really unwell again and had to go back in to hospital. ...

I’ve entered the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge. Every year it starts at the Canary Islands and you row 3,000 miles to finish in Antigua. They say more people have been in to space and climbed Everest than rowed across the Atlantic Ocean. I’ve been a rower for about two yea...

I’m studying Early Childhood Studies and automatically you think of primary teaching, but I don’t want to be a teacher. I want to travel and set up schools to help people who are less fortunate than us. Sometimes I look at my life and I think yeah, I’ve had it all.  I’ve al...