The last six or seven months of my life have been almost unbearable. I  lost my father to renal  failure and my husband to brain cancer within six weeks of each other. To even get out of bed and put one foot in front of the other was a hard thing to do. It took all my physical and mental strength to do it, the pain in my heart unbearable but I knew I was still alive because of it.

 

All through my ordeal, my friend,Jenny, wouldn't give up on me. I was a full time carer for both my husband and my father and when I couldn't attend my keep fit classes (that she teaches), she was at my door with  food, fruit and various bits and pieces for my husband and me.

 

Jenny even took my ironing and did it in between running her own home and her classes.

 

Eventually, when both of the funerals were over, everyone gave me a little space; but they were always there on the other end of the phone if I needed them - especially Jenny.

 

She encouraged me to attend a different keep fit class where I wouldn't know many people - just as a first step to try and get back to normality. It was hard to take that first step, and I wasn't sure if I would just break down and run away. After a couple of classes I worked my way up the lines from the back to the front. I am a qualified aerobics instructor myself and have covered some classes for Jenny when she has gone away on holiday so the front is where I'm used to being. 

 

I learnt that, last year, an expert, that teaches the keep fit franchise instructors, got my friend Jenny to do a challenge - something she was frightened of. This was horse riding. She had a nasty fall as a young girl. Jenny got back in the saddle and she overcame her  fear.

 

As a way to help me through my plight, Jenny set me a challenge.

 

She asked me if I would consider a tandem  jump from an  aeroplane at 10,000 feet to raise money for Marie Curie. My immediate reply was NO WAY! I am petrified of heights and thought she must have gone mad. 

 

The Marie Curie Hospice, in Solihull, West Midlands, opened its doors in January 2013 to a fantastic new facility. Through the kindness and wonderful assistance of the staff I was able to get my father and my husband into rooms opposite each other at this hospice. I had been constantly travelling between Solihull Hospital, Heartland's Hospital, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital and my home. I was torn who to be with because I felt both my father and my husband needed me in their darkest hours.

 

My father only survived two days in the hospice, but he died in the  most peaceful and beautiful place, surrounded by his family and friends. I didn't know what I was going to do.

 

Now the problem arose of clearing out my father's house and storing his belongings. I also had to arrange his funeral. I felt, though, that I could not leave my husband's side. He had brain cancer and was very frightened and confused and his health was deteriorating by the day.

 

My husband was only at the hospice for respite care at that time, but the staff came to me and told me not to worry. They told me to go and do what I needed to do for my father and that they would look after my husband.

 

They also found me a bed and put it in my husband's room and I stayed there every night for a month. This was something they had done in my father's room too, to help my family before his death. It meant that neither of them would be left to die alone. Something I know they both feared.

 

It costs £9,300 a day to run the 24 room hospice. There is also a Day Centre where people can go for respite.

 

The hospice organises activities and can carry out blood transfusions where necessary. They also have their own doctors on site.

 

There are facilities where volunteers do people's hair and nails. Volunteers tend to  the gardens, to which there is access from every one of the 24 rooms and there are wonderful pictures on the walls donated by kind people.

 

Every member of staff I met, from the people in the kitchens to the people at the top who ran the hospice and even the volunteers who brought round drinks, touched my heart. Everyone was so kind to me. Me, who they didn't know from Adam.

 

When we came home - it was my husband's wish to die at home -  they arranged a care package for us. We had carers coming 4 times a day and they organised nurses to sit with my husband on certain nights so that I could get some sleep. This alone costs £100 per night per patient.

 

I decided I just had to do something to repay the wonderful kindness and treatment given by the hospice. I told Jenny I would think about her suggestion - even though I still thought she was mad. I mentioned it to my family and friends and I suddenly found that I had this strong feeling that I was going to do this.

 

I don't know how I am going to overcome my greatest fear, I only know that I will. I now have a reason to get up and face every new day - and my father and husband will not be forgotten. It will also mean that other people can benefit from the wonderful facilities at the hospice.

 

 Originally, there were to be 6 of us doing the jump, this has now increased to 7. As well as me, there will be Jenny and her husband  Dave, along with Paul - my son - and Matt & Dean. We've also been joined now by Dean's son Akaash.

 

Please give us your support. It is, without doubt, one of the most wonderful causes you could ever donate to.

 

I pray you will never need their assistance; but I know that if you ever should, Marie Curie will be by your side every step of the way.