A MARIE CURIE nurse who dedicated her life to others has died of coronavirus.
Barbara Sage, 68, worked in palliative care for more than 40 years and spent the last 14 working for Marie Curie.
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She died in intensive care on Sunday and is survived by partner Gerald, her children Donna and Aaron, and her five grandchildren.
Barbara started as an ambulance driver in London when she was 18 and it inspired her to become a nurse.
Her daughter Donna described her "caring and kind" mum and as someone who was always there for her patients.
She said: "Mum always said her job wasn't about the getting paid, it was about being there for people when they need it.
“It was about being caring and kind and giving people your time.
"She wouldn't just get up and leave at the end of her shift. She'd stay on to support the families or wait for the coroner if needs be."
The gran-of-five was working as a senior healthcare assistant in Bromley, South London when she died.
Adebusola, her clinical nurse manager, said Barbara was an "incredible" and "dedicated" nurse.
She described a time when one of Barbara's patients was dying and his carer wife was rushed to hospital.
The couple also had a disabled son with Downs syndrome.
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Baraba put called to get her patient into the local hospice and refused to leave his side until he was taken in.
Adebusola said: "Then she stayed at home with the son, cooked him breakfast and looked after him and comforted him until the social worker arrived.
“She'd started her shift at 10pm the night before, and she left the family's house at 1pm the next day.
"She hadn't slept, she was amazing and if that's not kindness and dedication then I don't know what is.”
It is believed at least 50 NHS workers have died with Covid-19 in the UK so far.
Matthew Reed, Chief Executive of Marie Curie said: "Barbara’s death is a devastating loss for the whole Marie Curie Team, and I know everyone who worked with Barbara over the last fourteen years can attest to her professionalism and commitment. I know she will be very greatly missed.
"I’ve spoken to Donna who told me how her mother had spent all her life as a palliative care nurse, holding the hands of dying people and hugging their loved ones.
"She told me how she and the rest of the family couldn’t hold Barbara’s hand as she was dying. They couldn’t hug her goodbye. This pain is something that so many families are having to go through right now.
"My thoughts are with Barbara’s family and friends, as well as everyone who is grieving a loved one in these incredibly difficult times."
Barbara's death comes as more than 14,576 people have died in UK hospitals of coronavirus.
But it is feared the number who have died is much higher, with the government's figures not currently including deaths in care homes, hospices or at home.
It comes as mum who worked for the NHS for 30 years has died after contracting coronavirus.
Julianne Cadby, 49, had worked in several roles at her health board in Cardiff, Wales across three decades and was a "much loved" member of her team.
Yesterday, the son of an NHS consultant who died of coronavirus blamed his dad's death on a lack of PPE after it was taken from his ward.
Dr Peter Tun, 62 died in the intensive care unit of Royal Berkshire Hospital hospital in Reading on Monday after contracting Covid-19.
This week, it was revealed that a retired NHS medic who worked on the frontline battling coronavirus had died from the disease.
Andrew Treble, 57, died at Wrexham Maeler Hospital after working as a theatre assistant amid the crisis gripping Britain.
Other NHS medics who have died after contracting the virus include Lourdes Campbell, a healthcare assistant with the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, died on Wednesday night after catching coronavirus.
And a pregnant NHS nurse died from coronavirus five days after her baby was saved by an emergency C-section.
Mary Agyapong, 28, who "devoted her life to the NHS", was taken to hospital on Tuesday last week showing signs of the killer disease and later tested positive for Covid-19.
She died at Luton and Dunstable Hospital on Easter Sunday.
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