Why the Pilgrims Hospice?

The Pilgrims Hospice in Canterbury has been an amazing support for Ben and I since we were told in February that the skin cancer had returned and progressed to an advanced stage, making him now officially 'terminally ill'.

Initially we were pretty depressed to be contacted by a hospice - it seemed to confirm the gloomy prognosis we'd received from the doctors, while we'd been vehemently vowing to 'beat it'.

At the time we thought that hospices were simply comfortable hospitals for the last few days of life. Turns out we were pretty ignorant - they offer so much more than that, not only to patients but also to their families/carers, at all stages of illness, not just end of life care.

In our case, we've benefited from a number of their services:

- Nurses have visited the house to give advice and counselling

- We regularly see a specialist doctor at the hospice who gives advice and treatment on the day to day problems of pain, fatigue, sleeplessness and so on

- Once a month I am invited to 'carer's day' - a chance to talk to other carers and the hospice counsellors and volunteers, to chill out while being given a hand massage, to be served copious cups of tea by the lovely volunteers, to share a meal and glass of wine

- We've both been using the counselling service - having sessions together and separately

There's so much more that they offer - alternative therapies such as massage, reiki, acupucture; courses for patients and carers on various aspects of living with terminal illness - these are just some of the things I'm aware of, there are probably many more.

Plus of course there are the core services for in-patients. Although 'end of life' care is an important aspect of this, they also take patients who just need some more intensive medical care than they can get at home for a time, or those who need a period of respite or whose carers need a break.

And the incredible thing is that all these services are completely free of charge, for both Ben and I. That's why I want to do this walk, to give Pilgrims something back for everything they have done, and will continue to do, for us.

Please support Pilgrims in their wonderful work by donating some money (a little or a lot - it all helps!) to my Moonlight Walk fund.

What's the Moonlight Walk?

It's a 10 km walk along the Kent coast, on the evening of Friday 21st September. It's a humble feat, I admit, but as this Mummy hasn't been getting out to the gym much lately it'll be excercise enough!

How does JustGiving work?

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.