My name is María José Portillo Peña, I have been a nurse at Cudeca for more than 13 years. I like to define myself as a nurse by vocation because, since I was very young, I have known the profession through my father, Paco Portillo, a nurse from Benalmádena, with many anecdotes and always helping others.

I remember as if it were yesterday when I started my nursing degree, I was already the happiest person in the world, so you can imagine how I felt when I finished it.

I have to confess that, in my first years as a nurse, I liked the emergency room, the ICU and the operating theatre. However, after learning about Cudeca's special kind of caring, my professional goal changed.

I had a crush on palliative care but, above all, with Cudeca. And from that moment on, my goal was to be able to be part of the team, however long it took...

At first I thought that this moment would never come because all my colleagues were very "comfortable" and the teams were full, but that moment came and, although I was on sick leave due to the pregnancy of my first child, I became a permanent member of the admissions unit.

After many years in this position, with many nice anecdotes with my colleagues on the ward, I was offered a change: to be part of the last home support team that has been formed in Cudeca, the seventh team. The patients and families we look after live in Torremolinos, Campanillas and Santa Rosalía. I am the nurse of the team, but I work with doctors, physiotherapist, social workers and psychologists who are wonderful and fundamental to give a correct and complete care.

I always say that I am very lucky because I work with very good professionals and better people. So I can only say that I feel very lucky to be able to dedicate myself to what I like the most, which is to be able to HELP OTHERS, as my father did and, fortunately, still does.