She decided to become a physician after nursing her mother, Elizabeth Cole (née Okrafo-Smart)[5], through a terminal illness.
[7] From January 1945 to September 1946, she managed her brother’s private practice while he was on a work assignment with the Colonial Office in West Africa.
[7] During the World War II, she treated casualties and worked on the decontamination squad at the Royal Victoria Infirmary.
[7] In 1947, she married Nigerian barrister, Samuel Osarogie Ighodaro of Benin City[8] with whom she had four children; Tony, Wilfred, Ayo, and Yinka.
[4] She stayed at the hospital's residential quarters for medical staff and returned to East Croydon every weekend to be with her family.
[12] She also chaired the University of Benin Teaching Hospital's board of management and was a member of the YWCA World Executive Committee.