Nursing mentor found, on the other side of the world

This month’s STAR STORY is rather special, not least because it comes all the way from Japan, but also because its sender has been on quite a spiritual journey too.

Reverend Dr Je Kan Adler-Collins is a Buddhist priest who with our help, has re-established contact with an individual he says was pivotal in determining the direction his life took.

Je Kan, 52, explains:

“It was on the off-chance I joined Who-Remembers-Me. I enjoyed my military service but never expected to have any hits form any one I knew.

Imagine my surprise when I was contacted by an individual who was pivotal in changing the direction my life took.

When I originally joined the army I was placed in the Army Catering Corps due to my having a City and Guilds in catering from college.

As a young soldier I was often in hospital with injuries received while playing rugby and boxing – more often than not a broken nose – and while engaging in sometimes heated discussions with our airborne colleagues in the local watering holes of Aldershot!

I observed the quiet ordered lifestyle that the nurses led and was impressed with the knowledge and skill they possessed.

One nurse in particular, Sue Shaw, spent a great deal of time talking to me about the training and it wasn’t long before I was hooked, I decided I wanted to nurse.

The support of this young lady sustained me as I attended night school to get the necessary O-levels, changed corps to the Royal Army Medical Corps, went through basic training again and finally, was accepted for State Registered Nurse Training.

I qualified in 1978 as a State Registered Nurse and went on to have an interesting and fulfilling career as a nurse and paramedic until I was injured and medically discharged after 14 years service.

I lost contact with this nurse and never had the chance to thank her for all she did to motivate me to become a nurse in the first place.

In 2000 I moved to Japan after finishing my MA at Bath University.

I am now a head priest of Shingon Buddhism where I work as a nursing monk in a Prefectural University.

I have a PhD in Education and work as an Associate Professor of Nursing. I publish and lecture all over the world and I am actively engaged with nursing issues in China, Tibet, Thailand and Japan.

Thanks to your website I was able to say thank you to a very special lady who changed the course of my life.

We may be 20 years older, and many thousands of miles apart (Sue lives in the UK), but we are back in touch and for this I am very grateful. Thank you.”