'I found a new life after pandemic broke me'

A nurse who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during the Covid pandemic has said moving to the Scottish Highlands had proved to be "life-saving".

Jude Greaves-Newall became unwell when the trauma of working in A&E at Bradford Royal Infirmary came on top of losing both her parents within weeks of each other.

In search of a fresh start two years ago, the 51-year-old moved to Wick on the north-east coast of Scotland.

Ms Greaves-Newall said the move had "lifted some of the stress" and had given her the time and space to "recover and heal".

Ms Greaves-Newall's mum, Barbara, died in March 2020 after suffering from pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease, for a long time, while her dad, Allan, died just over four weeks later after catching Covid.

The couple, who had fostered hundreds of children over 35 years, died during the first Covid wave, and, as a result, neither was able to have a full funeral.

"They passed away when they shouldn't have done. They passed away too young," Ms Greaves-Newall said.

"I know Covid didn't take my mum, but an illness that's horrible - that she didn't deserve - did.

"But Covid did take my dad – and I do feel he was cheated," she said.

When Ms Greaves-Newall eventually returned to work in A&E at Bradford Royal Infirmary following the deaths of her parents, the advanced nurse practitioner began experiencing panic attacks and poor sleep.

She said she believed these were triggered by the combination of grieving for her parents while also dealing with "terrible situations" at work with sick patients.

"I ended up really unwell as a result of it all," she said.

"My emotions and my feelings were really heightened, maybe like a raw nerve."

Ms Greaves-Newall said that on one occasion she suffered a panic attack in her car outside work and had to call a colleague for help.

"I couldn't breathe; I was sweating; I was crying; I was having palpitations; and she sat and talked me down and calmed me down," she explained.

"I had to call in sick and go home - I couldn't physically go into work."

Ms Greaves-Newall sought help and was eventually diagnosed with PTSD, which she described as an "accumulation of tough stuff and badness".

She was given psychological help and support, but she said she also realised she needed to make changes in her life.

That sparked the move 400 miles north to Wick - a place Ms Greaves-Newall had fallen in love with after visiting with her family on holiday - to begin a new life.

She was joined by her husband Vince and teenage son Quinn, while her two grown-up children and four grandchildren still live in West Yorkshire.

Two years on, Ms Greaves-Newall now works in a GP practice and enjoys a slower pace of life, which includes going wild swimming up to four times a week.

She said: "I can safely say that since moving here, there has not been a single occasion where I've gone, 'what have we done?'

"If I'd carried on where I was in England, I'd be pretty broken by now and not functioning.

"I miss my children and miss my friends, but they're still always there."

Ms Greaves-Newall said the pandemic was the worst experience of her life, but believed that without having gone through that, she would have been unlikely to follow her dreams.

"I was really poorly, physically and mentally – and now I'm really well, physically and mentally," she said.

"I was really sad – and now I'm really happy.

"In the pandemic I felt I couldn't see anything, so the fact there is something there is amazing.

"I feel positive and motivated for the future."

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