Light up Christmas at Hampstead Hospice
Join teamTeam fundraiser • 2 members • Marie Curie
Story
Donate now and we'll light a lantern for you in the Hospice Garden this Christmas. Help us be there for families facing their last Christmas together.
We need local businesses and communities to come together to Light up Christmas at our Hospice in North London. We have an ambitious target to raise enough funds to run the whole Hospice over Christmas 2020, so we can be there for families living with terminal illness across six North London boroughs.
By donating unused Christmas party funds, passing an e-card around or hosting a Christmas fundraising event - you can make a huge difference to families living in your community.
Families like Lucy’s.
Lucy Booth was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 3. She died at Marie Curie Hospice in Hampstead August 9th 2016, with her sister and parents by her side. She was 37 years old.
Lucy’s mum Jackie and her sister Analie shared Lucy’s story with us:
Analie:
The end when it came, came quickly. She went into the hospice at the end of July. Initially she was going in to try to get a little stronger, but the end came quickly, quicker than any of us thought really. At the beginning of July, she was told it could be 6 months to a year, which then changed to a matter of weeks and then less than 2 weeks. The hospice was great, we couldn’t have asked for more, the freedom to come and go as we wanted. There were places we could go - we could sit in the garden, she was on oxygen full time by then, but we could take her out there. She didn’t want to die at home. She wanted to be somewhere that her pain could be managed, and she didn’t want to be a burden on us, which was silly, but that’s how she felt. She had visitors up until the Saturday and she died on the Tuesday. She wrote her will in the hospice, so she knew. She had been so positive and so strong for such long time but then she, not gave up, that’s not the right word, but she gave herself permission to say and feel that she had, had enough. And typical of Lucy, once she made her mind up, it happened very quickly.
The hospice made it so easy for us, everyone was amazing - from the doctors and nurses to the cleaners, just everyone made it easy for us to be with her.
They always went above and beyond. Mum and I stayed from the Saturday. I took her cat to see her, which again was lovely that we could do that. Nothing was too much trouble. We could have a cocktail hour in the corner of her room. Everyone was so kind and lovely.
Jackie:
It was lovely to be with her and the fact that we could all be together - we all slept there those last few days. The nurse was such a nice person - we were asleep, and she came in and said, ‘she’s taking her last breaths’ and we woke up and I am so grateful she came in and said that to us, and we were all with her.
We need businesses and communities across North London to come together this Christmas to help us be there for other families, like Jackie, Alan and Analie, who remember fondly their loved one Lucy, this Christmas.
Light up Christmas will fund care for families who are facing their last Christmas together.
There are two ways to support the campaign:
Make a donation - just click the donate button at the top.
You may decide to donate what you would normally spend on a Christmas Party or Christmas cards.
You could set up your Just Giving page
You might hold a festive Jumper day with a prize for the wackiest jumper, you could do this virtually with a special “video call tea break” for the judging to take place.
If your staff are working from home at the moment, you could suggest they donate the cost of their normal weekly commute, or the price of their morning coffee. You may even decide to match fund these donations.
We have lots of other festive fundraising ideas too, which we can share with you.
To thank you if you set up a just giving page or donate over £20 to our page we will:
Provide you with a choice of custom Christmas e-cards to send to your staff, customers, clients, suppliers and friends, encouraging them to support too.
Provide festive fundraising ideas.
Hang a tag with your company name or logo on the Christmas Tree that will go up outside the Hospice in December.
Light a paper lantern in the Hospice Garden on 23rd December
To give you some understanding on the impact of your donations, for Christmas Week we need to raise:
£952 to keep the lights on at the hospice for the week
£588 to heat the hospice for the week
£214.50 to provide home cooked hot meals on Christmas Day to all our patients
I really hope you will consider supporting our patients, their families and our nurses this Christmas.
Thank you, and Merry Christmas.
Tracy Annunziato
Community Fundraiser
Marie Curie Hospice, Hampstead.
Caring for people in 6 North London Boroughs
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