If I do my job well I can help take pain and trauma away

– Yanky Blair, 41

A STEEL stomach and selfless heart have kept trauma cleaner Yanky in her job since 2006.

She says: “My mum was hit and killed by a bus. Death and tragic situations are part of life and leave families feeling really emotional.

“I want to do what I can to help people and make sure others don’t have to see the sad sights of life. There are difficult moments, like removing the little that’s left of a deceased person from train tracks, but I get through it by thinking of their family and the pain they go through when they hear the news, and reminding myself

I’m helping in a small way.

“I think of my mum and hope a caring person looked after her when she died.”

No job has ever made her vomit or faint. She says: “When I first arrive at a job, I think, ‘What do

I have to do to make this area perfect again?’ Years ago, a man bled to death at home and a co-worker said he couldn’t take it.

“I’ve got a certain strength, so I worked doubly hard cleaning the blood and the clots because I didn’t want his elderly wife to have to see it or deal with it. I’d always do extra things like wash the dishes too.”

Yanky never eats on a job and often takes off her clothes outside her home in Croydon, South London, as the smells can linger.

She says: “Yes, there are easier ways to make an honest living. Friends are always asking how on earth I do it and my partner always says she couldn’t do it. But bereaved families are already suffering so much. If I do my job well I can help take pain, bad memories and even more trauma away from them.

“I love my job. And if you love your job every job is a good job. No other job makes the difference to people’s lives like this one.”