Alison's Story

Added 6th January 2022

The Hospice at Home team were absolute angels, and due to their commitment and care, Mum ended her days in the family home, in the exact position Dad had been. This meant a lot to the family, as my parents last wishes were adhered to.

My relationship with the hospice commenced in 2014, whereby we welcomed the support of the Hospice at Home team to enable my wonderful Dad to end his days at home. Although Dad had prostate cancer, he died due to his advanced vascular dementia.

Claire Brown and the team were marvellous, and not only looked after Dad, but also ensured the family were ok too. August 10th, 2016 - my lovely Mum was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She passed away on 29th August 2016. Again, the Hospice at Home team were absolute angels, and due to their commitment and care, Mum ended her days in the family home, in the exact position Dad had been. This meant a lot to the family, as my parents last wishes were adhered to.

Although we asked for donations at both funerals for the hospice, I felt I wanted to give back more. In 2017, I became a reception volunteer, as I felt I wanted to 'give back' to the charity that had supported me and my family when we needed it most. More importantly, I am on the front line meeting people when they enter the hospice, and can speak from the heart if they need to offload or have a chat. Many of the visitors have said it has helped them to talk to someone who has been through the same experience as them. After my parents died, I did not feel I needed any form of bereavement support. However, by Xmas 2018, I did not feel I was coping, and my GP did a referral for Bereavement Counselling.

Yet again, I used a different service provided by the hospice, and I wish I had accessed sooner in order to deal with my grief.

Whilst volunteering over the Xmas period in 2017, I bumped into an old friend whose wife was very poorly, and who sadly died on Boxing Day. I sent him and his children a sympathy card, and told them to ring me if I could support them in any way. In June, Bryan rang me, and we started to meet up and chat regularly about the loss of his beloved wife (he attended the Bereavement Support group for a number of months and has also climbed Snowdonia to raise funds for the invaluable work done by the hospice for local people). In September 2018, we became a couple and are still going strong!

He firmly believes that fate - and Springhill- brought us together, and between us I think we have used all the services offered by the hospice! Life is too short, and you never know what is round the corner, so we are making the most of it. He just feels that he has been given another opportunity, and we take each day as it comes, making memories along the way. We will never forget the support, love and care given to our respective families by the hospice, and it just shows that life goes on - albeit at the time it does not seem that way