Laughter protrudes from the corner of the chemotherapy ward at Albury Hospital where Jude Peterkin often sits with patients who face the battle against cancer.
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![HELPING HAND: Jude Peterkin is one of the McGrath Foundation's longest serving breast care nurses, having been appointed to operate out of Gateway Health in 2006. Pictures: ELENOR TEDENBORG HELPING HAND: Jude Peterkin is one of the McGrath Foundation's longest serving breast care nurses, having been appointed to operate out of Gateway Health in 2006. Pictures: ELENOR TEDENBORG](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/qr544hYuCqYV9UFz5jEtcz/e2748f8c-b6ed-4628-8f1d-0e741ef8c883.jpg/r1223_23_5019_3430_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
To some people the lit-up machines, needles and remote controlled chairs are new and confusing.
![HEALTHY CONVERSATION: Jude Peterkin and Anne Lister talk everything from health to shopping in the chemotherapy unit at Albury Hospital. HEALTHY CONVERSATION: Jude Peterkin and Anne Lister talk everything from health to shopping in the chemotherapy unit at Albury Hospital.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/qr544hYuCqYV9UFz5jEtcz/393c2f0d-3621-484c-9fce-a2cfb1537749.jpg/r116_158_3637_3120_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
But for Wodonga woman Anne Lister, who sits and chats with Ms Peterkin, the surroundings are all too familiar.
Ms Peterkin was the first McGrath Lambert breast care nurse to be appointed in regional Australia in 2006 and has since been joined by Jodie Hart.
While she can’t cure the disease, she can try to help people learn about it.
“To understand breast cancer - I don’t know that anyone ever really does when it happens to them,” Ms Peterkin said.
“But it’s a very special position, it’s a great job to be able to support women and their families and to help them gain knowledge about their results, disease and its treatments.”
Ms Peterkin was waiting outside the surgeons room when Ms Lister was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011.
And she was there again after the diagnosis of secondary cancer which has been deemed terminal after infiltrating Ms Listers bones.
Ms Peterkin has supported her ever since by attending most of her chemotherapy sessions and always being just a phone call away.
“I think the most difficult thing for me is when women have recovered, gone back to a new normal life and then breast cancer rears its ugly head again – that is tough for everyone,” she said.
“Because then the aim is often to control, not cure.
“It’s a privilege when many of them feel like they have a few familiar faces around and I am one of them.”
Ms Peterkin says she will never forget the year when 10 young women in their 30s were diagnosed with the disease.
She helped bring them together with their husbands and families to form a support group.
“That was pretty special,” she said.
“It was actually a good feeling because all the women could relate to each other, and their partners could relate to what the other men were going through.
“They all knew how each other felt and understood each other.”
As the McGrath Foundation celebrates 10 years since its establishment, Ms Peterkins nine years with them as a breast care nurse has also been recognised.
It isn’t just the foundation praising her work, but the patients too.
“Her support has been imperitave,” Ms Lister said.
“She is always here on chemo day.
“Sometimes I think I won’t see her but she always surprises me.
“She’s very personable and can always get a smile out of me.
“I know I can ask her heavy questions and she will answer me truthfully.
“And I know in the end, she will be there.”