Like many other people in our local community, my family and I have been helped by
St. David’s wonderful team of nurses. I wanted to write to you to tell you about our
experiences and to ask you if you will please consider supporting the nurses so that they
can continue to help even more people like us.
St. David’s came into our life 3 years ago. My husband John suffered from a progressive
brain disease. Over several years it robbed him of his mobility, continence and speech,
but not his mind – or his lovely smile. He wanted to stay at home and I wanted to be able
to care for him there. However, as his condition worsened, caring became increasingly
difficult. As an ‘amateur’ carer, you can sometimes feel inadequate and frightened. More
and more often I found that I was losing my cool and feeling desperate. Sometimes I was
so busy that I forgot to eat.
I’d heard about hospice care, but thought it was only for people with cancer. When my
GP told me that St. David’s would be able to help us, it was such a relief. Helen, one of the
specialist nurses, came to visit us and suggested that John might benefit from going to
St. David’s day hospice. John enjoyed going out and meeting new people, and this gave
me valuable respite time to go shopping or out for coffee.
As John’s condition worsened he became too frail to go out. St David’s nurses came
every day to help me wash, dress and feed him. As a result of their care, I was able
to maintain my piano teaching, work at a local toddler group and continue my
grandparent duties. The help with unfamiliar tasks provided by the St. David's nurses
and the reassurance that I was doing things correctly was so encouraging!
Sadly John died just a few months ago. St. David’s nurses were with us, and John
was able to die as he wanted to - with his family at his side.
It is through the help of people like you that my husband received the professional
care he needed. My family and I are so grateful to generous people like you who
help maintain St. David’s work. It would be wonderful if you were able to support
St. David’s again to enable even more people like us to benefit from the care and
dedication of their nurses. I can testify that your donation will make a real difference.
Yours sincerely
Ruth
