In November last year, Christine received St John’s care here at the Hospice, and in her own home. Her husband, Michael, has kindly shared her experience with us.
“In October 2023 my wife Christine asked her Oncology Consultant the question that no one would ever want to ask, I don’t remember exactly the words she used, but I shall remember his answer forever,
“You will not be alive at Christmas.”
Her disease was well advanced when diagnosed in May 2022, it being a variant of ovarian cancer and with over thirty years employment in a hospital she soon realised the stark reality that was ahead of her. The immediate Chemotherapy treatment reduced the cancer. As a young and vibrant sixty-year old she had so much to offer the world, as her lifetime soulmate I clung to the hope of a continuing improvement, but tragically it never came.
So, sixteen months later her end of life care was passed to St John’s Hospice and as her condition rapidly deteriorated we first visited the Hospice. Its facilities and staff made it an oasis of calmness. We knew that with only 13 beds a bed could not be guaranteed.
Her faith gave Christine the strength to accept death, but she said she needed reassurance that it could be managed without undue pain, I was floundering to cope emotionally, but the calmness and sheer professionalism of St John’s medical, nursing and support staff provided reassurance to us both.
Christine was supported at home by the St John’s Clinical Nurse Specialists and Hospice at Home team for weeks. It was her strong wish not to spend her last days at home, saying she did not want to leave me with the life-long memory of her passing at home, but her condition quickly deteriorated. By early November 2023 she once again found herself in hospital and realising her last days were near, she was transferred to St John’s Hospice.
In her last few days I saw the undoubted empathetic professionalism of the caring staff, death came pain free with dignity, in reassuring surroundings for a lady whose courage and selflessness were evident to her dying breath.”
Michael Malley
