Cancer Services nurse Carli Shaw’s ever-changing hair colour is popular with her patients but make no mistake this red head is blue on the inside.
“I get some stick for wearing a Blues jersey and having hair to match at Origin time but it’s all friendly banter. I grew up in Lightning Ridge so I’m a New South Wales girl and that will never change,” Cali said.
Normally at State of Origin time she’d also be blue on top but this year the memory of a special patient has kept her ‘pillar box red’.
“I went down to see one of my patients in emergency and she wasn’t doing so well. We were chatting away and I said to her “what colour should I do next?’.
“She smiled and said ‘well you know what colour I like (red) and I haven’t been able to change it since and that was two or three months ago, so this is the longest time I’ve kept the same colour.
Carli’s patient has since passed away.
“She was a very special lady. I was there on her first day of treatment and she was very scared and frightened.
“We sat there and held hands and did every step together. She high-fived me on the way out of the ward saying we did it together.
“It’s very emotional going through all of that with someone. Her treatment was supposed to be curative but unfortunately the cancer progressed.”
Carli has worked in Oncology in Mackay for six years and all up for almost 10 years.
After graduation she wanted to specialise in palliative care but was instead given a position in the bone marrow transplant ward at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
“I loved it and I’ve pretty much worked in cancer services ever since,” she said.
“I get to meet such incredible people, and try to make a horrible time a bit better for patients and their family. They are very vulnerable and if we can help in some little way it’s very rewarding
“It’s very taxing … you take a bit of work home but I think when you stop caring you should stop doing what you do. Patients often ask how we do it but we do it for them.”
Carli’s crazy hair is a conversation starter for patients, most of whom lose their hair due to the ravages of chemotherapy.
The natural brunette’s had mystical heather (purple), enchanted forest (green), atomic turquoise, electric lizard (blue) and even rainbow troll doll hair.
When patients call the unit one of their first questions is often ‘what colour is your hair?’
Carli says her crazy colours are a reminder that hair is just hair and you can’t take it too seriously.
“Talking about my crazy hair helps start a conversation because losing your hair can be really hard when you have cancer, people worry about being stared out so it’s good to have those conversations about the emotions.
As an oncology nurse Carli enjoys the relationships she develops with patients.
“That’s the nicest part of our job, you get to know people from when they are diagnosed and hopefully see them again at the shops when they are doing well.
“If they become palliative we support them through their treatment journey and help make them more comfortable.
“Oncology staff look after each other too. It can be a low time here just after Christmas because a lot of people will manage to hang on for a final Christmas with their family, so we need to do more team building at that time of the year and support each other.