Three years later she obtained her Midwifery Certificate. After appointments in Auckland and Wagga she was transferred to Island Bay to help with the accreditation processes for the Compassion Hospital and St Joseph’s Home of Compassion at Silverstream. In 1990 she was diagnosed with MS and since then she has courageously lived with this disease. Sister Duchesne now lives at the Margaret Wilson Presbyterian Rest Home not far from where she grew up in Timaru.