Nina is our GEM in every sense of the word

Extra Hands' latest Broadland Going the Extra Mile winner has been facing her own health battle while ensuring our service-users are taken care of.

Nina Tye, who joined Extra Hands, a family-run care provider, in 2012, has been undergoing treatment for breast cancer while continuing to work at our Broadland office as a care co-ordinator, and her sheer determination to keep going saw her nominated for the award.

“For being amazing and carrying on after all she’s going through,” said her nomination by a colleague.

Diagnosed in June, Nina is currently undergoing a course of intensive chemotherapy which is being administered at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

“It’s a high dose to start with. They want to shrink the tumour before operating to remove it. That’s scheduled for the middle of January as you have to take a break from chemo beforehand,” she said.

“It’s going OK and I’ve been really lucky in terms of side effects. I have felt sick a couple of times and two of my nails have gone very brittle, I might lose them.”

But losing her hair was a tough call for Nina, of Wroxham, and she said it was devastating.

“They said it would take three weeks for it to fall out. I brushed my hair at three weeks and it didn’t - but then I washed it in the shower and it just fell out. I was covered in it. It got to the point that I asked my son to shave my head. It was really hard, but I don’t want to wear a wig so I’m bald just now.”

Throughout it all Nina, 63,  has continued  working, apart from Mondays which is her chemo day at the hospital.

“The hospital has been really good. I have chemo Monday and a blood test at my surgery on a Friday and every Friday the hospital phones to see how I’m doing.

“Extra Hands have been really good too. I Just want to get on with it really and everyone knows what’s happening as I’ve been very open about it. There has been a lot of support,” she added.

Nina’s first role with Extra Hands was as a carer before she moved on to join the Rapid Response team and then became a care co-ordinator and is now mainly office-based.

Every day is different in her role, and Nina says she has been supported by all her colleagues during her treatment which has involved regular trips to hospital.

Before joining the company, Nina worked in a variety of roles including a spell with a dry cleaner and working within a care home setting. But after 12 years with Extra Hands, Nina has no plans on going anywhere else.

The winner at their Heacham office is Sharon Newman who has added another GEM award to her first win in 2021.