Moving videos show reunions of hospice staff and patients’ families
CENTRE HELPED A TERMINALLY-ILL MUM TO GET MARRIED
A HOSPICE in Chesterfield has released a series of moving videos showing reunions between staff and patients’ families.
Ashgate Hospicecare provides palliative and end-of-life care for families across North Derbyshire and the High Peak and Dales.
The videos were released by the hospice as part of Hospice Care Week, which was launched this Monday to celebrate hospice care.
Featured in one of the videos is 38-year-old Simon Birley from Clowne who in October 2020, married fiancée Lindsay in a special ceremony at the hospice where Lindsay was being cared for in Ashgate’s Inpatient Unit.
Lindsay was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer while she was pregnant and died a month after her wedding.
Simon said: “Throughout her short illness, she never once complained; it’s just awful that one minute we’d just welcomed our son Isaac into the world and were so happy, the next thing, life comes crashing to pieces.
“All we ever wanted was our own family, and then cancer took it away from us.”
Simon had a tearful reunion with
Ashgate’s ward manager, Karen Walker, who supported the couple on their special day.
Simon said: “On the wedding day, Karen was there to support Lindsay and having her there made us much more relaxed.
“She helped make our wedding day go as well as it possibly could have.
“Without her and everyone else at Ashgate, we wouldn’t have been able to get married.”
Sheryle Scott, 61 from Sheffield, reunited with Ashgate community nurse, Helen Harrison, who cared for her brother Mark Coley at home after he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
Sheryle said: “Without Helen, I don’t know what we would’ve done. We felt like we’d known her all our lives.
“With Helen, her patients must all feel the same way, we felt that we were the only patients she had.
“She just pulled everything together for us in a matter of days. I could phone her whenever I liked, even during the lockdown it was never a problem.
“Helen became such a big part of our life and I’m so grateful for everything she did for Mark and our family. She just never stopped caring.”
Graham Matthews, from Killamarsh, returns to Ashgate to reunite with Lucy, the physiotherapist who “helped to extend the life” of his wife Diane, who was diagnosed with multiple system atrophy, a rare degenerative neurological condition similar to motor neurone disease.
The videos showing the reunions can been seen on Ashgate Hospicecare’s YouTube channel.
Graham said: “We were so worried about how life would end for Diane, but fortunately, thanks to the support of everyone at Ashgate, it was very peaceful for her.
“Lucy was a big part of Diane’s life towards the end. She helped make a terrible situation much brighter and more cheerful. I remember when she couldn’t even stand up or get her head up, but through Lucy’s hard work, Diane managed to get her head back up and even stood up a couple of times.”