All of the Hospital Heroes Awards 2020 nominations

The Daily Echo has launched its annual campaign to find Southampton's 2020 hospital hero at the start of the month.

And nominations have now closed.

We have teamed up with University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust for the 13th year to search for a new star to clinch a coveted title in the trust’s Hospital Heroes Awards.

The Daily Echo’s Reader’s Choice Award will be presented to an individuals who our readers feel have gone the the extra mile to provide support to people.

The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony on March 6.

Here are this year's nominations:

Mandy Frisby

Senior Sister Mandy Frisby was nominated by her daughter Sarah Frisby.

Mandy has been in the nursing profession for more than 36 years. Born in Wapping, East London, she studied at St Bartholomew's in London and qualified in 1983.

Mandy moved with her husband and children to Southampton more than 30 years ago and became part of the UHS team.

She found her true professional love in the neurosurgery speciality and went back to the books to achieve her children’s nursing qualification.

She has worked on the children’s neurosurgery unit ever since, leading them as their Senior Sister for more than 10 years.

Mandy's daughter Sarah said: "My mum makes everyone feel like family and you can’t walk through the hospital without evidence of this, it feels like every person you pass is compelled to stop for a chat, regardless of whether they are a porter or a consultant.

"She has been a pillar of support and strength for so many families; grieving or hopeful for a good outcome and I know each one genuinely touches her heart, she just has a seemingly endless capacity to make room for more.

"With such a role model how could I become anything other than a nurse?

"I too am a Senior Sister in the Children’s Hospital and I count myself lucky to have a mentor, a role model and a mum all rolled into one."

Alok Sharma

Neonatal lead consultant at Princess Anne Hospital Alok Sharma was nominated by Charlie May.

Charlie first met Alok when her son, Cohen, was born. Charlie's son was born healthy at 15 weeks early, but at three-days-old he caught an infection and Charlie was told to "sit and hold his hand in case he passed away".

Cohen started to get better by day eight but on day ten things took a turn for the worse and he sadly passed away at 12-days-old.

Charlie said: "Alok is an angel on earth, he was everything you need in a medical professional. He was caring and honest but professional, knowledgeable and showed genuine love and care.

"A lot of that week is a blur but what I do remember is Alok saying to me 'I know he is your baby, but whilst he is in my care, he is also my baby', I will never forget that, it made me feel like I really could trust in him.

"Alok cried with me when he told me the medicine was no longer working and nothing more could be done and to me that shows how compassionate and incredible he is."

Matt Watts

Matt Watts, head of media at UHS, was nominated by Alison Cameron.

Alison first met Matt when he interviewed her after she received ground-breaking surgery.

Alison was fitted with the implant, pioneered by consultant neurosurgeon Girish Vajramani.

The procedure involved placing four paddle-shaped electrodes across small collections of nerves in the spinal nerve known as the dorsal root ganglion (DRG).

These nerve ‘bundles’ are connected to every section of the vertebrae and are involved with sending pain messages to the brain.

Alison had suffered from chronic neuropathic pain following appendicitis surgery at the age of 17 which resulted in her requiring more than 50 injections to freeze the site of her pain, known as cryoblocks.

She said: "Matt spent the time to get to know me as a person as well as finding out the complete story that led to the surgery.

"Matt was always there to support me and guide me through every step of the process; reassuring me but also supporting me to be able to stop if the media ‘stuff’ was too much for me to deal with.

"Because of his support and reassurance I was happy to continue with the media ‘stuff’ until it came to a natural conclusion.

"I believe that Matthew Watts is an amazing asset to the Hospital & a true unsung Hero as he is in the background constantly promoting others within the hospital."

Jean-Paul Evangelista

Jean-Paul Evangelista has been nominated by Caroline Sanchez.

Jean-Paul, from Millbrook, is a matron for the cardiovascular and thoracic team at UHS.

Before he moved from the Philippines to the UK, he trained as a nurse.

In 2003, he applied to join UHS as part of an overseas recruitment drive and is still working there today.

Speaking of her nomination, Caroline said: "I first met him about seven years ago on surgical ward.

"I was so very lucky to have Jean - Paul looking after me. He's dedicated to his patients.

"Nothing is too much for him and he genuinely cares for people.

"He's a lovely sweet soul who.has worked so very hard. All the patients love him.

"It can be daunting being an in patient relying on nurses to do things for you. But this nurse would bring happiness to our wards.

"He's a real joy. He's done so much to get where he is and he really is a hospital hero."

Amy Tooley

Amy Tooley has been nominated by Lisa Huntriss.

Amy, 28, has been working as an Oncology nurse for four years and started her career on the Oncology ward D3.

Over the last 18 months, she has been working as a Lymphoma Clinical Nurse Specialist.

She also works on the Chemotherapy Day Unit, C3.

Lisa has been battling Lymphoma over the last three years.

She has been given the "all clear" three times, however each time it has returned.

Lisa said: "Amy has put up with my endless phone calls, texts, tears and, most of all, she is someone who can make me laugh when I'm feeling anxious about any upcoming treatments or scans.

"She is always at the end of the phone and if she misses my call she calls straight back, I'm sure she lives there sometimes.

"I could not have gone through all the treatments without her, she is a massive credit to the team.

"The times the lymphoma has made its appearances after receiving the all clear she has been there for me if I've needed someone to talk to.

"Amy is an amazing nurse and I can't emphasize enough how much she has helped me and no doubt a lot of others, but always seems to make me feel like I'm the only one she deals with."

Kirsty Hawthorn

Kirsty Hawthorn has been nominated by Kirstie Mellor.

Kirsty, a midwife at Princess Ann Hospital, first qualified in 2016.

She run the pregnancy and postnatal yoga classes and also works in complementary therapy for pregnancy.

Kirsty was Kirstie's "last minute" midwife after she took over from her original midwife, Penny.

Kirstie said: "[Kirsty] made me feel at ease and assured I was in good hands, she new from my previous experience from my first birth was quite a traumatic experience.

"But when it came to my second labour she was with me throughout the whole process from start to finish.

"I couldn’t thank her enough and couldn’t of done it without her.

"Kirsty was patient and gentle gave me time to prepare.

"Even when I was moved to the ward she came by for chats even off duty to check I was okay from in person to phone calls to home visits, so pleased she was our midwife."

Karen Brackley and Carolyn Colasanti

Karen Brackley, fetal consultant, and Carolyn Colasanti, a nurse at Princess Anne Hospital were both nominated by a lady who has asked no to be named.

Her son was born on August 20 at 27-weeks-old weighing a tiny 1lb 1oz.

Before he was born, it was discovered that he had Selective Intrauterine Growth Restriction (SIUGR) meaning that he was not growing.

The lady was told to be prepared that her baby might die, however when she met Karen everything changed.

Karen made sure that her son was born that night to give him a fighting chance at life.

She said: "It was fate we had Karen that day I honestly believe because of her I have my beautiful boy.

"She gave my son a chance and she wasn’t wrong to.

"Karen has made my life beautiful by giving me the gift of life in my son."

Speaking of Carolyn, she said: " She is no doubt the best nurse I’ve ever met in my life, I’m so privileged to have had her looking after my son in the Princess Anne.

"She took a shine to my sweet boy like we did her. I just knew she would do everything for him.

"You can see the love and care she puts into the babies. She’s just amazing at what she does.

"Carolyn goes above and beyond for the babies she’s a blessing. I’ve cried and hugged her more times than I can count during my nicu journey.

"She was my rock during our 114 day stint.

"Despite moving rooms she still knew my son as well as I did. I’ll be forever grateful to her."

Jonathan Louden

Jonathan Louden has been nominated by Hester Van der Poll.

Hester first met Jonathan, a kidney specialist, when she saw him in October last year.

She said: "Johnathan Louden a specialist who saved my life when went to see him last year.

"I was severely overweight and was told I had kidney problems, I could live or I could die if I carried on the way I was living.

"I was 14 stone 14lbs, I started with weight watchers and am now still with them, my health has improved and I’m now 12 stone 4lbs."

Katie Lemon

Katie Lemon has been nominated by Michael Lewis and Tracey Marie.

Katie works at the UHS eye unit and. more recently, the eye casualty.

Tracey said: "Never have I met anyone so passionate about here work, making sure the care of her patients comes before anything else, has also recently helped to raise money for a work colleague to have IVF treatment, she is a true star."

Michael said: "Katie absolutely loves her job and works so hard to make sure people who need her are cared for.

"I've seen a big personal change in Katie since she's taken up work at the hospital and really feel this positive achievement will further give her confidence to keep pushing her best to help others."

Vanessa Clarke

Vanessa Clarke has been nominated by Amy Parker.

Amy said: "She deserves to win this award for Southampton Heroes as Vanessa would put anyone before herself.

"She has saved numerous amount of lives and treats every patient as if they are her own family.

"She goes to work every single day and rarely has a day off and you never hear her complain.

"This career path is something she has always wished for and finally after her five children growing up to be adults she has been able to focus on herself but instead she focuses on making everyone better and treating every patient with love and care.

"No one deserves this award more than Vanessa, she's the most ambitious hard working lady I have ever met."