NOT many people can say they have saved hundreds of lives but Tracey Garde can.

Not that she would ever boast about it. This modest woman, who has spent her life caring for others, would dismiss it as “just my job”.

In fact, Tracey, who is now a matron at the Royal Bolton Hospital, has always gone far beyond the remit of her work.

Now 54, she was born in Ashton, Manchester, and grew up in Whitefield. She was adopted as a baby – “I always knew that, as my parents told me I had been specially chosen, which was a lovely way to put it”, she said.

Her mother was an auxiliary nurse at Prestwich Hospital and some of Tracey’s earliest memories are of manning a little stall outside her home to raise money for the hospital. “I raised £3.50 once which seemed a lot of money!” she laughed.

Fundraising became an early way of life for her “I just enjoyed giving to other people”, she recalled.

And she also enjoyed going with her mum at around 11 years of age to “work” on the wards where mainly psycho geriatric patients were cared for.

“I knew I wanted to be a nurse from early on,” she said, “And I originally wanted to be a psychiatric nurse.”

When she left Stand Grammar School for Girls at 18, she went to the Bolton School of Nursing based at the then Bolton District General Hospital, now the Royal Bolton Hospital, to take a general nursing course.

“The School of Nursing had a very good reputation and they taught me well,” said Tracey.

The three-year course gave her the opportunity of plenty of general nursing experience. “And I just loved it so much I forgot all about going into psychiatric nursing.”

One area that she particularly liked was working in coronary care and she later became the first nurse to gain her Coronary Care Diploma.

Tracey was lucky enough to land a job at the Bolton hospital — “There were 25 of us and only four of us got jobs. How things have changed!” She worked first on the men’s surgical wards, was swiftly promoted to staff nurse, and then had the chance to move to coronary care.

When a new two-bed intensive care unit was opened, Tracey was asked to go there and stayed for two and a half years before returning to coronary care. She applied successfully for a junior sister’s post, studying for her master’s degree while working full-time. She maintains that her career could never have been possible without the support of her mum, Margaret Kendrick,who helped with Tracey’s three daughters.

As a sister, she headed the specialist nursing teams around coronary care. Then, in 2000, a national coronary care initiative gave her the chance to improve the service and she brought in several ground-breaking systems.

Tracey was also actively involved in raising money for the hospital’s new Coronary Care Unit.

A large part of her work had involved patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators and in 2012 she was asked to create a support group for patients.

After she set this up, the group decided to fundraise to buy life-saving defibrillators for communities.

The campaign initially met with little response. However, after Bolton Wanderers’ player Fabrice Muamba suffered a heart attack on the pitch and nearly died, it suddenly took off.

The group fundraised over the next four years and supplied 150 defibrillators to schools, sports clubs and other organisations in Bolton and Bury. Tracey was named Community Hero of the Year at the St John Ambulance Everyday Heroes awards.

Another award came her way after she helped save the life of a Blackpool fan who collapsed close to the Wanderers’ ground after a match. Tracey and the group also campaigned again for defibrillators on flights after an easyjet passenger suffered a heart attack mid-flight. Easyjet now has defibrillators on all its flights.

Today, Tracey is matron on the busy Assessment Unit and still enjoying her work. She plans to start a phased retirement next year but would like to keep a role at the Royal Bolton Hospital. “I’m not from Bolton,” she said, “but I love Bolton and I love this hospital.”

And with that, Tracy the quiet life-saver, returned to the daily business of making a difference to patients’ lives.