'I BECAME A NURSE FOR MY KIDS!'

When Caity suddenly lost her partner, she pushed forward for the sake of her five children

- Brigid Auchettl

Blinking back tears of joy, Caity Cook proudly walked across the stage to collect her nursing diploma. It was a monumental moment for the Victorian South West TAFE student her road to graduation had been far from smooth.

Tragically, the 28-year-old mother-of-five lost her partner Dylan in 2020 then, just one month later, her mother suffered a major stroke.

But through all the sorrow and heartbreak, Caity held on to hope and never gave up on her dream of becoming a nurse. "I was going through the hardest time," Caity, who lives in south-west Victoria with her children Serenity, 10, Lilly, nine, Santanna, seven, Grayson, five, and Archer, three, tells Woman's Day. "Studying helped me relinquish some normality and cope with the grief and loss and just be 'me!"