A CHRISTMAS appeal has been launched by The Shakespeare Hospice to help raise vital funds for its Hospice at Home service.
With rising costs and an increase in demand, the hospice, in Stratford, needs to raise £14,000 to help fund the service over the festive period.
Thanks to the generosity of the hospice’s match funders, donations to this appeal will be doubled while funds last.
Hospice at Home is for patients who want palliative and end of life care from the comfort of their own homes. The Shakespeare Hospice’s team of Registered Nurses and Health Care Assistants provide nursing care and emotional and psychological support for patients and their carers and families.
Hazel Cross benefitted from the hospice’s services after her husband, Bob, who had previously been diagnosed with skin cancer, was told he only had months left to live.
Hazel said: “Once we got our heads around the diagnosis, we agreed to nurse Bob at home for as long as possible. Fortunately, we lived in a bungalow. Bob had had a successful career as an architect and had designed the bungalow 14 years earlier, so it was suitable for us as we grew older.
“By the autumn, I was finding it harder to care for Bob at home. That’s when The Shakespeare Hospice team stepped in. They would come in and give Bob a shower and they made sure I had everything I needed to continue care for him. They were there for us to talk to, which became more and more important as time moved on.
“When the hospice team began to come in, all my attention was focused on Bob. I found it quite surprising when they first asked me how I was.
“As Bob’s condition worsened, the Hospice at Home team increased his care so that Bob could stay at home, which was the most important thing to me. I was determined that Bob wouldn’t go back to hospital, and he didn’t. He died exactly how he had chosen to, at home, surrounded by his loved ones.”
To help the hospice support more families like Hazel and Bob’s this Christmas visit https://shakespearehospice.enthuse.com/cf/christmasappeal2022
