Gemma Devine, a Healthcare Assistant with Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, is using her journey with multiple sclerosis (MS) to inspire patients, colleagues, and young people alike - proving chronic illness doesn’t have to hold you back.
Gemma, 28, works on Rookwood A, a dementia-friendly ward at Chorley and South Ribble Hospital. However, at 18, with ambitions to go to university and train to be a journalist, she suffered stroke-like conditions, including left-sided paralysis, and started a six-year wait for an official MS diagnosis.
After almost six years with no medication and no answers, Gemma admits: “I remember describing it as my life coming to a halt in the cruelest way. I fell deep into depression as I couldn't see any prospects for my life, and I couldn't see myself having a normal life.”
During her time in hospital, she didn't have the strength to lift her arms high enough to brush her teeth or comb her hair and is still suffering with the consequences, having had seven teeth removed, and her cut off due to matting, which was “the most dehumanizing, devastating and humiliating moment of my life.”
Today, she’s thriving both personally and professionally.
“The Trust has shaped me as a person, definitely,” says Gemma. “There's a massive difference in my confidence and my speech. Aftab Zamir became my tutor in January and has done so much for my confidence. He's given me that moral support when I need it and just helped me generally.”
Gemma, who has just passed her Band 3 apprenticeship, says Aftab helped her embrace her capabilities: “I know I'm different from everyone else - there is something wrong with my brain which requires more one-on-one support. But now I feel like I'm cemented in my job and definitely capable and competent - this is what I do every day. Aftab has made me realise I've come such a long way and got myself this far. If I can teach myself how to walk again, I can get through anything.”
Her apprenticeship has helped her grow personally, too: “This course has taught me reflective practice, which is one of our modules. I look back at the place I was in, and where I am now. I don't know how I've done it, but I feel so confident and empowered, that all of these things are coming to me and I think I've manifested it. 2025 is Gemma's year for sure!”
Gemma’s positivity is contagious: “Everyone has commented on how happier I am, how confident I am. My matron Chris Winster said he could see a bounce in my step, which was lovely. He's moved to Preston, but he was such a fabulous support. He would be so proud. I’ve also noticed a lot of patients telling me I have a lovely smile, and it is great. It makes patients feel better and trust you, especially our dementia patients. If they see a smile, it helps break that wall down.”
Gemma’s story is also gaining recognition beyond the NHS. “I've had email correspondence from Sir Lindsay Hoyle's secretary that he is happy to back me in sharing my story. When I graduated from the Prince's Trust programme at the start of my MS story, I met him in person, and in a speech he gave, he mentioned how inspired he was by me, which was incredible.”
Now, she is giving back: “The King's Trust have asked me to talk to the young people on the programme across Lancashire. Hopefully I can inspire them. When I started on the Prince's Trust programme, I didn't have that person to look up to in a similar situation to me, and if I can be that - someone with a chronic illness, lacking confidence... I've never had confidence, and that has impacted me through my life. Now I've built it up and it is showing who I am as a person.”
The Prince’s Trust opened a door into the world she loves as she found her calling in healthcare: “I was job seeking and went through the reboot programme to come to the Trust. I quickly found it was my vocation in life. I am in a job that I absolutely love – the interaction with patients, making a difference to them, being able to provide a positive hospital experience. My matron told me I have a special gift, and I think I do, I don't know exactly what, but I love my job so much.”
She is also a dementia champion and goes the extra mile: “I try hard to provide meaningful activities and engagement. I spend time chatting to them, because it can be lonely with dementia. I like to make connections with patients.”
Living with MS has made Gemma stronger: “With any illness, you're thrown in at the deep end, with no idea what's going on, when it will end, whether it will end, and unfortunately, I won't get better. But I've learned to live with it and deal with it. I want to share that with other people. I can't get better physically but I can mentally, and that's what is happening. I personally think I am powerful, and I have manifested that power.”
She’s now eyeing the next step: “I've been working more with the therapy team and recently applied to be a therapy assistant practitioner. It is a jump from Band 2 to 4, which is daunting, but why not? The world is my oyster; I have momentum and hopefully there are more opportunities to come.”
Gemma has also shared her story with the MS Society, which you can read here.
