Fixer Upper

When Tee Tatum, 43, from Yorkshire, lost her husband, she completely changed her life...

- Hannah Poon

Walking up the aisle, hand-inhand with my new husband Chris, I was over the moon.

‘We did it,’ I smiled at him. I’d been with him for 12 years, but Chris had recently been diagnosed with bowel cancer, and it was terminal, so we didn’t know how long we had left together.

I gave up my retail job to care for him, but sadly just six months after tying the knot, Chris lost his battle.

Although I’d lostthe love of my life, I was grateful that I was able to look after him until his last breath.

I’d never considered carework, but I decided it was time for a new career and an opportunity to give something back.

I started applying for jobs and within a couple of months I started as a care assistant at Anchor Care Group.

I absolutely loved my new role, looking after those in later life and dementia sufferers.

I had so much respect for my job and the residents. I worked my way up through the care home and in 2016, I became home manager at Anchor’s Mill View home.

It was a remarkable feeling and I could now make a real difference to their lives.

The care home was in a pretty bad way when I took over, so I needed to act fast.

People lived there and they deserved a home.

So, I rallied up my new team and told them my plan.