Skydiving for Pauline & St.Luke’s Hospice

Target: as much as possible

Summary: Pauline believed in St.Lukes and had first hand experience of their care, compassion and dedication.

Detail: Pauline was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure in 2014 and started dialysis at Clatterbridge in 2018 which continued three days a week right up to her death in 2024.

Sadly other medical complications added to her problems culminating in chronic heart failure as well as cancer. Throughout the many years of suffering she never ever complained and bore the regular medical bad news with great fortitude and the typical gritty determination of a Yorkshire lass.

She was an amazing person who I had the privilege of knowing and loving for over 30 years, during which time we built a business growing,supplying and exhibiting orchid plants around the country. Being very much the artistic partner she created many gold medal winning displays at most of the top flower shows around the UK.

She became firm friends with many of our customers due to her natural outgoing nature as well as her willingness to help.

Retirement sadly coincided with a deterioration in her health which curtailed her great love of golf which she must have found frustrating but didn’t stop her playing using a buggy and hooked up to her oxygen supply only months before she died.

She was very much a family person and her regular FaceTime sessions with her grand children Toby & Freya and other family members in Australia as well as her family in Harlow not only gave her immediate enjoyment but also the will to keep going.

Pauline attended day care sessions at St.Lukes which were very helpful and she enjoyed - though quite demanding as her reliant on oxygen made talking difficult.

Since her death I have become a volunteer driver as we both supported what St.Lukes stands for and what it does for so many people at a time their lives when it is so needed and appreciated.

My skydiving commitment is to raise as much money as we can for a truly great cause and in memory of a wonderful person.

That is why, just after my 80th birthday, I will be throwing myself out of a plane at 15,000ft !!

St Luke's:

Since 1988, St Luke’s has been providing palliative care to local people, supporting them in ways which go beyond the scope and funding of the NHS. Last year we supported over 1,000 local people with a huge range of support from end of life care on our ward to supporting carers, and from helping children cope with grief to helping patients return to work after an illness.

We are a charity and provide all our care for free, so we rely on the generosity and commitment of our supporters to raise more than 80% of our costs.

David & Pauline: