Nathaniel and I are taking part in The Mudpack Challenge on 18th October for The Hospice of St Francis along with the rest of TEAM GREIG!! My beautiful Mum was diagnosed with Terminal Lung Cancer March 2013, my Mum was in terrible pain for over 6 months prior to this and was failed by her GP time and time again. The news of my Mums diagnosis came as a huge shock to the whole family as she was fit and healthy and hadn't been to the doctors for 24 years prior to this. We all lost faith in the NHS and there capability to care for my Mum now she had this terrible disease. Mum was then referred to The Hospice of St.Francis as an outpatient initially and had her first consultation with the amazing Dr Ros Taylor, there was a small glimmer of hope given by the determination of Ros to get my Mums pain under control after all of her months of suffering.  My Mum was eventually admitted as an Inpatient for pain management, she was so sceptical of going in as she automatically assumed the worst - that when you go into a hospice you probably won't come out and at this point she couldn't have been more wrong. The Hospice staff  worked tirelessly at trying to get her pain under control and eventually my Mums pain reduced slightly, it was at this point she was discharged. Mum entered the Hospice with such a pessimistic view and by the time she was due to be discharged the Hospice was her haven and she was reluctant to leave. This was due to exceptional care given by the hospice staff - making my Mum and all of the family feel so safe and cared for. 

 

Unfortunatly Mum's pain became worse and she asked to be readmitted to the Hospice, Dad and I spent every day with her and all 3 of us gained such a special relationship with the staff there and as strange as it may sound I have some really happy and fond memories of my Mums time in the Hospice as it really is a beautiful, tranquil and happy place. Mum definitely kept the staff on there toes and conjured up such special relationships with many of the nurses and doctors!

The weekend before my Mum passed away my Dad and her had a takeaway and a bottle of wine in the Hospice dining room where the staff had laid them a table for there Saturday night in - this in itself shows how The Hospice of St.Francis always goes above and beyond for the happiness of there patients. 

In the early hours of Monday morning my Mum sadly went down hill and was sedated, my Dad and I were told that my Mum would not be woken up. All of our family joined us the following day at The Hospice, we all sat round talking about old times which Mum would have loved. Dad and I were able to stay with mum over night and the next morning my beautiful Mum passed away with me and my Dad by her side. I was 8months pregnant at the time and they did all they could to ensure I was healthy, comfortable and coping with the loss of my Mum. The hospice staff were such a huge support to me and my whole family. Now just over 2 years on we are still in contact with the Hospice and they remain to be a great support system. My Dads taken part in a cookery course with The Hospice chef Chris, he volunteers in there Returned to Glory shop and my whole family do as much as we can to raise money for this amazing cause - last year I managed to raise £1800 which is a breath taking amount of money!

I hope from reading an outline of our journey with The Hospice of St.Francis you will get a tiny insight into the astounding work the hospice staff do and how truly important it is to donate and raise money in order to keep this amazing cause afloat. You may not be aware but the Hospice only receives 20% of its funding from the NHS and solely relies on donations, fundraising and sales from there many shops to fund there costs in caring for our community.

Please donate what you can as any amount is a great help, I remember a conversation I had with Dr Ros regarding fundraising and I said ' as a family we are doing as much as we can to raise money for St.Francis but it just seems like a drop in the ocean when you see all of the expenditures'. Dr Ros's reply was 'you are right but you need to remember that the ocean is made up of a lot of drops'! 

We would love to raise as much money as we can again this year for this amazing cause.....please dig deep and donate whatever you can!

 

 

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