This is a story I never expected to tell, about a team I never knew I needed - a team that built every bit of care around my wife, Jo. I'm Colin, and this is our story.
If you'd like to help more local families get the free hospice care they need, please consider giving a gift today.
In February 2024, Jo was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. A month later, we found out it was terminal. It's news that turns your world upside down. St Peter's stepped in straight away to help manage her pain and symptoms. A Community Nurse Specialist called weekly, always asking about Jo first, then me: "How are you doing? How are you coping?" No other organisation had really asked me that before.
Those calls and visits helped Jo stay at home. The team arranged back-up medication so we could visit London, Center Parcs and many of Jo's favourite places from her childhood. The team knew that living well mattered just as much as managing her pain.
When things took a turn, Jo bravely decided to stop treatment and stay at the Hospice. Whatever she needed, someone found a way to make it happen. When all she wanted was to see her cat, Woody, the team said yes without a second thought. He spent a very happy afternoon curled up on Jo's bed. It was wonderful.
If you'd like to help more local families get the free hospice care they need, please consider giving a gift today.
Jo loved Christmas so we decorated her room with fairy lights and fake snow. When it snowed that November, we turned her bed towards the window and watched it fall. It was magical.
On Christmas Eve, the team cleared space in the car park for her mum and stepdad to camp overnight. They were there first thing on Christmas morning for bacon sandwiches, then a full Christmas dinner together. Everyone went above and beyond.
A few days before Jo died, her favourite film, Labyrinth, came on TV. I held her hand as she drifted in and out of sleep - a memory I'll treasure forever. Jo died on the morning of 5 January. It was obviously the worst thing that can happen. But somehow, it happened in the most perfect way. Right up until the end, every bit of her care was built around Jo. The love she was shown mattered as much as the medical care.
Right now, St Peter's can only reach one in three people in our area who need this kind of free care. That means two in three families face what we faced without the tailored support we had. We were so lucky. Please, if you can, give today so more people can be cared for as themselves. Not a diagnosis, not a number, but a person. That’s what Jo had. I'd give anything for someone else to have that too.
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