Ros Probst Speech

Hello. My name is Ros. I was a colleague and friend of Nazy’s at Great Ormond Street Hospital and I want to say a few words about her on behalf of my colleagues and myself.. It’s incomprehensible what has happened to Nazy, and I feel sad for myself and the others at work. But this sadness of ours can’t compare with the unimaginable grief that her family must be feeling – because we all know that, as important as work was for Nazy, nothing was as important as her family. I worked with Nazy for seven years, in the chemical pathology lab. She was one of those people who we all liked to work with. She was  conscientious, hard-working and punctual, and she was cheerful and positive. 

As she herself said, she perhaps wasn’t the fastest worker but, as in the rest of her life as I knew her, she was completely organised and careful in her approach to work. She was determined to do a good job, and wouldn’t give up until she’d done it in the way she felt it should be done. 

Besides just being organised in the lab, she often organised us. A number of us here today went with her to Center Parcs for a weekend. She’d gone there with big groups of Iranian friends and she felt close enough to us to want us to have the experience too. When we finally went she wasn’t feeling well, but as she had planned it all, being the determined person Nazy was, she went.  

In groups at work, we all did other things too. We went to stretch classes, went on London walks, did a chairty walk – and we had ethnic dinners, where we all got to sample Nazy’s delicious rice. Once at a party we even got her to dance!

Besides having fun with us, she cared about our welfare at work. In the neonatal screening lab, they were all stressed out from being overworked. Nazy led the fight to get an additional member of staff hired to help reduce her and everyone else’s stress. She made light of everyday work problems just by being herself – giving a humorous comment and that cheeky smile. 

Nazy was the counsellor and advisor on all sorts of matters at work to so many people. Sometimes it seemed like she was too involved in other people’s business, was too much of a mother. But if Nazy told you to sit up straight, you did. If you didn’t, she would poke you in the back.

She was so involved because she was interested in everyone’s problems. She was interested in people, tolerant in a way that would make her try to understand what motivated people to do what they did, rather than judging them.

 As for myself, Nazy and I were not just colleagues. She was my friend, and we spent many hours talking to each other – about people, work, her family and, the last couple of months, her new kitchen. We’d chat at tea breaks and we’d chat on the tube going home.  We’d always walk together. She never wanted to just sit around at lunchtime, so I‘d keep up with her determined pace as we walked and talked. 

Most of our talks were serious, and we always had a lot to talk about. Even though we came from such different cultures, we both felt we had a lot in common. At work, especially before Nazy cut her hair, people  sometimes said, ‘Here come the sisters.’ 

My husband and I were lucky enough to once be invited to dinner at Nazy and Nader’s house, where I know many of her friends have eaten many meals. The dinner was so delicious and so beautifully presented, that I was nervous when I had them over to my house to reciprocate. They had served us with such a sense of welcome and ease. Nothing seemed to be too much for Nazy. Perhaps it was her Iranian hospitality.

 Two weeks ago, I did what we always did for each other. I  took her the piece of birthday cake I had saved for her from the coffee bar earlier in the day.  

That was the last time I saw Nazy, and she was smiling.  

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