We would love your help this Christmas so our hospice team can make Christmas extra special for the patients and families who will be with us over the holidays.

 

Most of us see Christmas as a time for celebrating and being together with our families. But when a member of your family is nearing the end of their life, and the family is facing what will be their last Christmas together, it becomes even more important.

 

All of us at St Richard’s have a simple goal – to bring peace, comfort and dignity to every patient we see, every day of the year. But we know Christmas is an especially difficult and emotional time. We always make a huge effort to make the day as positive and happy as we can for our patients and their families because we know that this may be their last Christmas together.

 

We’ve worked out that it will cost exactly £19.79 for us to care for just one patient for one hour this Christmas. Please could you make a donation to pay for one or two hours of that time this year? If you can, I promise we’ll do everything we can to make this Christmas Day as enjoyable, peaceful and memorable as possible for our patients and their families.

 

All our care is provided completely free of charge. People often think that we’re just a part of the NHS, but we’re not. The hospice is a charity and the NHS pays for a third of the hospice running costs. That means that the care of 2 out of 3 patients we look after if paid for by donations from people like you. All the nurses here are really aware of that- you’re a part of our team too, because without your support we just wouldn’t be here.

 

St Richard’s at Christmas is like a huge family home and we all muck in and make the best of it, even our Chairman, John, comes in every year and sits on the front desk I his Santa hat!

 

We need to find £19.79 for each patient, for every hour this Christmas. Given how incredibly important that care is, how precious those memories will be in the future, we think that’s brilliant value.  Your donations will help us by paying for a little bit of the exceptional care our patients need.

 

£39.58 pays for the complete care of a patient for two hours. That’s long enough for them to open presents and have Christmas Dinner with their family, supported by us.

 

It will cost £475 to care for each of our patients this Christmas Day, so you see anything you can afford to give would be valuable to us.

 

Thank you so much for your help.

 

Corah’s story

 

Hello

 

I'm Corah, I'm 18 and I want to tell you about Christmas Day at St Richard's last year with my Mum, Sadie.

 

Mum had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008. She'd had lots of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and horrible operations, yet stayed so strong throughout it all. We all thought it was treatable and she'd be fine, but the cancer just kept coming back. By the Summer of last year we knew it was terminal.

 

She started coming to St Richard's once a week for aromatherapy, jacuzzi baths, massages – Mum really loved her days there and found comfort in talking to the nurses and doctors, people who really understood what was going on. My brother Hayden (he's 14) and I also came in to talk to counsellor Jackie. It was really good for us to be around people with whom we could openly discuss Mum's illness – our friends tried but didn't really know what to say.

 

On December 24th Mum became really poorly. The hospice Doctor – Dr Simon we called him –recommended that Mum went into St Richard’s, to give her time to settle in before Christmas Day. Mum was really happy to go. A few days before Mum had given Hayden and I an early present. They were Christmas jumpers – really amazing ones! So, we all trooped in and brought the Christmas tree from home, with lights, all the family photos and far, far too much tinsel and we made her room at the hospice look and feel as Christmassy as we could.

 

Christmas day for us was always a day at home with all of us in our pyjamas. So, when we came into hospice early on Christmas morning to see Mum we wore our 'Onesie' pyjamas (mine was 'The Snowman', Hayden was a tiger) with our new Christmas jumpers over the top. We looked an absolute sight, but we the day to be as close to ‘normal’ as it could be.

 

Dad, Nannie and Grampy Jim came in too. We all had dinner together – the hospice cooked us all a brilliant meal which we ate in Mum's room – she even managed to eat a little bit. We opened our stockings and presents as a family, in the few minutes at a time where Mum was awake.

 

I remember feeling amazed at how St Richard's managed to have such a positive atmosphere. The nurses let us be but were always popping in, checking Mum, seeing we were OK. I broke down badly at one point and they came and sat down with me and kept passing me tissues and chocolate.

 

We stayed all day and went home in the evening, but then got a call at 4am on Boxing Day – we needed to come back. I stayed in St Richard's family room with Dad and Nannie slept on a mattress on the floor in Mum's room. Mum passed away in the early hours of 28th December. She was at peace, with no pain – thanks to the care of St Richard's.

 

It's strange to say I know, but Hayden and I feel so lucky we had that last Christmas together with no stress. St Richard's gave us that and I'll never forget and will always be grateful to them.

 

We've fundraised a lot this year (through events such as a sponsored walk of and even a skydive), partly to say 'thank you' but also because we want other families, other mums to have the same incredible care as they gave to our Mum. I cannot begin to put into words how helpful, patient and understanding everyone at St Richards was. It is thanks to them that we could spend one last stress free Christmas day together as a family as we created memories that will last forever. We are all so incredibly grateful for all of their support. I really hope you'll be able to help this wonderful charity this year.

 

Thank you and Merry Christmas.