<p>Eighteen months ago my darling wife, Jessica died of cancer. One morning in late January 2010 she was fine; happy and smiling as always. An hour later she was sitting in a hospital bed, suddenly very seriously ill.&nbsp;</p> <p>Over the next few months, Jess was in and out of hospital all of the time. She had three major operations and then radiotherapy but all to no avail. By the summer, it was clear that nothing further could be done.&nbsp;</p> <p>At home, she became increasingly poorly; increasingly immobile and by the end of August she couldn't get out of bed unaided. I had reached the end of my tether. I was exhausted. I had crossed that line between caring for my wife and helping the patient at home.&nbsp;</p> <p>Thames Hospicecare stepped in. Obviously they could not make Jess well, but over the course of the next few weeks, they made her comfortable and cared for her in a way that was beyond the merely professional. The men and women who work there, many as unpaid volunteers are extraordinary, selfless individuals.&nbsp;</p> <p>No one can take away the pain of the end that had inevitably to come, which in Jess's case it did when she lost her battle on 24th September 2010. But I shall forever be indebted to the good people at the hospice who in those few short weeks of September, shouldered the burden and afforded me the chance to concentrate on giving Jess the only thing left to give her; my love.&nbsp;</p>