WHEN vital brain surgery robbed nurse Cheryl Phillips of much of her hearing 10 years ago, she thought she would never again work in the profession she loved.

But she took her first tentative steps back last year, and is now among 15 UK healthcare professionals chosen to become the 'faces' of the NHS Jobs recruitment website, which clocks up six million visits a month.

The 42-year-old mother-of-three, who lives in Pontypool, was selected from almost 800 entries, her application having impressed judges with her commitment to the NHS and enthusiasm in her role.

Similar qualities helped her battle back from the effects of complex surgery in 2000 to remove an acoustic neuroma - a benign brain tumour, the effects of which were potentially life threatening - to retrain and become part of Aneurin Bevan Health Board's continuing care team, looking after patients with long term, complex health problems in their own homes.

The operation left her deaf in her left ear, and with previously undetected poor hearing in her left ear, she was left with around 25 per cent hearing.

A hearing aid now provides the means for her to cope with the demands of her role.

"After recovering, I didn't initially re-register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council as I thought I wouldn't be able to nurse again," said Ms Phillips.

"Anyway, recovery was very long term. It was about five years before I started feeling like my old self again."

The operation left her with balance problems too, which she began to address by learning to surf - and after being left as a single mother she decided to return to a career she entered straight from school aged 18.

"I was lucky to get on a return-to-practice course in May 2008 and started with the continuing care team last spring," said Ms Phillips, based at County Hospital, Griffithstown.

"The profession has changed a lot, but so have I. I couldn't go back to nursing in A&E, but this is a new challenge. I have a job I love, and I've rediscovered my passion for learning and my ambition."

Diagnosis of rare condition

ACOUSTIC neuroma occurs in about one-in-100,000 people.

Usually slow growing, it is benign, but as it develops on the acoustic and other nerves, it begins to put pressure on those nerves and the brain.

The advent of MRI scanning brought much earlier detection and this is how Ms Phillips was diagnosed, after a period during which her hearing deteriorated quickly, and she suffered frequent dizziness and headaches.

"I was 32, quite young for an acoustic neuroma, and working in A&E at the Royal Gwent, noticing problems with my hearing," she said.

"I was diagnosed in January 2000, and had my surgery in the June. I lost my hearing in one ear, but I was lucky because I avoided the facial palsy that can happen, though I've lost sensation in the left side of my face."