Lauren Johnson
Just two weeks before taking her first steps to achieving her life’s dream of becoming a midwife, Lauren Johnson was diagnosed as profoundly deaf.
As a youngster, Lauren had grommets inserted to help with her hearing and for many years they did just that. However, during her A-levels she noticed her hearing was deteriorating and on further investigation was found to be profoundly deaf.
But Lauren did not let that stop her pursuing her dream job and now she’s looking forward to graduating.
“I feel very grateful to be graduating,” she said. “I am so thankful for the support I received from all my lovely friends who were also in my Feb 2020 cohort and my amazing family who live in York but are always there for me when I need them. I am still receiving treatment, however this has never prevented me from doing this incredible job and have always been supported by peers and supervisors at placement.”
It wasn’t an easy path for Lauren though, as four months after starting her studies she became seriously ill and needed major surgery.
“I opted to take a year away from my studies to recover fully,” she said. “I then came back to university in February 2020, just six weeks prior to covid hitting, so it was quite a challenge.”
Lauren said she feels proud of her achievements and is now working as a community midwife with Worcestershire Acute NHS Hospitals Trust.
She said becoming a midwife had been a life-long passion. “Being able to be part of a person's pregnancy journey is always an honour,” she said. “These women and their new families are experiencing a life changing process whether it be antenatally or during labour and supporting them to birth their baby, we have the potential to make such a difference in their experience and it is a pleasure to be able to call this our job.”
Lauren said studying at the University of Worcester was “the perfect choice” for her. “The city is very similar to my hometown of York as it has a lovely river in the middle and has a community feel, it's not too big and overwhelming,” she said. “It was the perfect choice for me I feel; it's a home from home. All the lecturers made me feel so welcome and they were very friendly at my interview, which was something that I didn't really experience when I interviewed at other unis.”
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