In July, I will be cycling from Prague, Czechia, through Slovakia, and finishing in Kraków, Poland - 8 days and around 1000km. Along the way we will visit several hospices supported by the Alina Foundation in Poland to deliver the essential medical equipment that your donations have helped to purchase, and to thank the hospice staff and volunteers for their incredible work.

In 2009 my granny, Alina, died of cancer. She and our family were supported in her last few months by the local domestic hospice, who provided essential equipment, as well as medical and nursing care. It is in her memory that we raise money to support hospices across Poland and Lithuania. Amongst others, this year we will be visiting St Camil's hospice in Bielsko-Biała, who looked after Alina in the months before she died, and who it is an incredible privilege to continue to support, as as the many other hospices doing some incredible work for adults and children with terminal illness.

Good medical care should not stop at the point of a terminal diagnosis. Palliative care is essential in maintaining quality of life, managing complex symptoms, and ensuring dignity in death. This should be available to anyone who needs it, but unfortunately this is not always the case.

“The way we die lives on in the memory of those who survive”. Cicely Saunders

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