‘I’m up for the nicest job’
Big-hearted Natalie escaped from despair by helping others
NATALIE HARRISON is having a very good day.
She leans back in her seat in the low-ceilinged pub in Rosyth and, against a backdrop of darts on the telly and the clack of balls on the pool table, sighs happily and takes a sip of Pinot Grigio.
Her wine is well deserved. She’s had a day of excitement and endless phone calls and now looks a little shell-shocked, albeit in a contented way.
It’s no wonder Natalie’s buzzing – she’s just been told she’s reached the shortlist of The Nicest Job In Britain, a nationwide search for a big-hearted humanitarian.
The successful applicant will become a National Philanthropy Manager, travelling the country for 12 months, working with 40 charities.
Now she’s down to the last eight contenders, she can barely contain her joy.
“Getting this job would mean the world to me!” Natalie exclaims. “I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.”
It’s the icing on the cake of a year that has seen the 36-yearold go from the depths of despair to the heights of positivity.
To say her life has been full of ups and downs is an understatement. But it’s helping others that has pulled her through.
“Life is full of highs and lows,” she agrees. “It’s like a rollercoaster.”
Born in Dundee, she was just 14 when her dad, David, was diagnosed with cancer in his lung and shoulder.
“He was given a 20% chance of survival,” says Natalie. “It hit me for six. We were expecting him to die.”
In the midst of the trauma Natalie recalls the Macmillan nurses visiting to offer support. “I remember that being significant,” she says. Perhaps that was when the seed that would blossom later was sown.
Thankfully Natalie’s dad recovered and her life became more settled. The rollercoaster was heading upwards again.
Aged 17, she landed a place studying psychology and life sciences at Dundee University. While there she met the man who would become her husband.
Her first year over and having a whale of a time, things seemed to be heading in the right direction. Then came the bombshell. “Aged 19 I fell pregnant,” says Natalie matter-of-factly. “I felt shock, fear, absolutely everything. But also determination. I didn’t think for a minute that I couldn’t do it.
“I was petrified, but I thought ‘it’s done now, I’ve got to deal with it’.”
Her parents struggled to deal with the news. “My mum couldn’t speak to me. It was very strained,” explains Natalie.
Happily the pair were reconciled before Natalie’s daughter Naomi was born in 2000, and a son, Lucas, followed 22 months later.
She’d left university by then and was working in retail to make ends meet, but things had evened out and once again life appeared to be on the up.
The young parents got married in 2003 and moved to Inverkeithing. It was while there that Natalie’s life would spiral downwards.
“I struggled to make friends and was going stir-crazy,” she says. “So I decided to apply for a nursing course.”
But bringing up two young children while studying an intense course and having to work shifts to cover outgoings is no easy task. Her husband worked shifts too, and they were like ships in the night – when one was coming in from work the other was leaving for theirs.
The cracks were starting to show.
In a cruel twist, fate decided at that moment to really pile on the pressure.
During the terrible winter of 2010, Naomi, then 10, was struck d o wn by vi ra l pneumonia.
“It was horrendous,” winces Natalie. “It didn’t matter what drugs she was given, she was just getting worse and worse.
“Between the ages of 10 and 14 she probably spent 50% of her time in hospital. When she was in high dependency I thought I was going to lose her more than once. I thought I was going to outlive my little girl.”
Meanwhile, having qualified as a nurse, Natalie had decided to go on to do midwifery training while also working. The strain was beginning to take its toll. “I became more and
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