![\"Hetton-le-Hole](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_SVR-NEC-040226-maggie-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMaggie Barnett said she “refused to be defeated” in her quest to become a nurse.<\/p>\n
Hetton-le-Hole mum Maggie Barnett who qualified as a nurse despite being diagnosed with stage four cancer while she was studying(Image: NHS)<\/p>\n
A Sunderland mum has defied a stage 4 cancer diagnosis to qualify as a nurse. Maggie Barnett, 55, changed career back in 2009, joining the NHS<\/a> and becoming a healthcare assistant at South Tyneside<\/a> District Hospital.<\/p>\n She then spent almost 16 years working on the stroke unit at Sunderland<\/a> Royal – but in 2018 secured a place on a nursing apprenticeship course. Major surgery meant she had to defer her place, but she began in January 2021 – proudly the oldest student in her class.<\/p>\n But obstacles kept appearing. First, her middle daughter became an altruistic kidney donor – and decided to go into nursing herself. Maggie’s eldest daughter, who lives in Australia, was then diagnosed with breast cancer.<\/p>\n Hetton-le-Hole mum and nurse Maggie Barnett during her cancer treatment(Image: NHS)<\/p>\n And at the same time, her own mother – who had lived with cancer for some time – received two further cancer diagnoses. She eventually died in November 2025. But throughout, Maggie continued her studies, even despite cancer hitting her too during 2024.<\/p>\n After symptoms she initially thought meant she had a virus, she was sent for tests and then diagnosed with stage 4b Hodgkin’s Lymphoma on December 27 2024. Throughout 2025 she received cancer treatment including chemotherapy – but she kept up with her work, even being awarded a first class mark for her dissertation.<\/p>\n![\"Hetton-le-Hole](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_SVR-NEC-040226-maggie.jpg\")
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