Thousands of people set to walk for those needing hospice care
This year, Ashgate Hospicecare is pulling out all the stops for Chesterfield’s biggest fundraising event. The Hospice is hoping to smash last year’s records and reach over 3,000 walkers for this year’s Markovitz Showroom Sparkle Night Walk, enabling Ashgate Hospicecare to get one step closer to funding a 24/7 Hospice at Home team to keep people at home.
Emma Wilson’s husband, Terry, was cared for by Ashgate Hospicecare. Throughout his time at the Hospice, Terry was able to spend precious moments with his family at such a difficult time.
Emma said:-
“Terry always thought hospices were for older people, but having spent a week in here he couldn’t believe how caring all the staff were. From the dieticians to the rest of the staff, they were all amazing.”
Once Terry’s symptoms were effectively managed, he was discharged from the hospice and returned home after just one week on the Inpatient Unit. Terry was able to have a week in Cornwall and a weekend in the Lake District.
“The last holidays we had were amazing, Cornwall was one of Terry’s favourite places. He’d been going down to Cornwall since he was a child, and he and I always went once a year without fail. So, our wish of going back there, as a family was able to go ahead and I will never forget it.”
“The two holidays that we had post Terry’s admission into Ashgate, were to be the last of his life. But, had it not been for his week in Ashgate Hospicecare, they wouldn’t have been possible, so for this, we will be forever grateful. The Hospice turned Terry’s life around.”
“Memories are not only in your mind but are also on photographs and I have lots of memories of Terry on our last holiday in the Lake District, mostly with our little grandson, Max. I look back on these photographs and sometimes I’m in tears and other times I just look back and think, “Gosh, thank you Ashgate Hospicecare for letting this happen. Thank you for extending Terry’s life and thank you for giving us the holidays of a lifetime.”
In November 2015, Terry was readmitted to Ashgate Hospicecare and on the 15th of November, he sadly passed away.
Emma said:-
“Ashgate Hospicecare gave us all the facilities we required to be able to not leave Terry’s bedside in his final few days. None of us returned home for around 4 days, we had food, beds and showers. It was such a relief to know we had everything there that we could possibly need. This enabled Terry’s close family to be at his bedside during his final days which was one of his final wishes.”
“I cannot fault anybody at this hospice. It is clean, it’s tidy, it’s well supervised and the nurses were fantastic with Terry.
“I’d like to say thank you to everybody at Ashgate Hospicecare for what they did for us whilst we were here and the support and care they have given me since. Thank you everybody.”
Since Terry died, Emma, along with family and close friends, have been heavily involved in fundraising for Ashgate Hospicecare.
“I’ve personally done a few sponsored walks, but one of the best I went on was the Sparkle Night Walk. It was amazing and the atmosphere from start to finish was so much fun with lots of laughter whilst raising money for a great cause.”
