Celebration of Life - Barbara's Legacy
Donation protected
Our brave mum lost her battle with Glioblastoma on 1st February 2024.
We are holding her memorial service on Sunday 17th March 2024 at Horsfall House, her place of work and now where Dad is living and being cared for by the wonderful team there.
Mum wanted a private cremation, however we invite her dear friends and family to join us in honour of her to celebrate her life. Mum loved working at Horsfall House and we are so grateful to be able to hold her celebration somewhere she held so dear.
Horsfall House is a unique and wonderful centre set in the beautiful Cotswold village of Minchinhampton, where residents and visitors, clients and family are received with a warm smile and open arms.
Horsfall House delivers outstanding care for both the physically infirm and those living with dementia and severe memory problems as well as offering Palliative Care, Respite and Short Breaks. With care administered by highly trained and professional staff, every area of the home has been designed and built with residents and visitors in mind, with the aim of making the transition into care as easy and stress free as possible.
In addition to this, through the Day Centre and Home Care facility they offer a number of services for those still living at home, including a unique Meals on Wheels service in Minchinhampton.
Horsfall House is owned through the Registered Charity by the community with the principal objective of providing affordable care in the local area. They seek to support those who are unable to meet the full cost their care and to generate funds to continually improve the facilities.
Mum was very keen to support Horsfall and therefore we are so grateful if you would consider a donation in memory of mum in lieu of flowers to support the work of Horsfall.
In addition to this we are keen to also raise money for Brain Tumour research and the Brain Tumour Charity in future, however should you wish to donate direct to either of these charities directly, their websites (along with some very sobering information and stats) can be found at: https://www.thebraintumourcharity.org/
Mum’s Journey
Our darling mum, Barbara went into hospital for a CT scan towards the end of October and never returned home. What was thought to be post viral complications led to her undergoing brain surgery to take biopsies of anomalies within her brain.
The biopsy results delivered the devastating news that mum has aggressive brain tumours, known as glioblastoma. Owing to their aggressive nature and location there were no treatments available to prolong life and as such we supported mum in hospital until her transfer to Kingsley House Nursing Home in Tetbury, working hard with the palliative team to ensure person centred care for her during her remaining weeks.
With this incredible lady caring for our Dad, Brian at home for a number of years now, as his age and frailty led him to not wanting to leave their house and over 12 months ago now he eventually became completely bed bound. Whilst they had some external care support, Mum was his primary carer so her shock diagnosis has also meant Dad has had to go into full time nursing care at Horsfall House.
As you can imagine for both Kay and I these have been very sad, difficult, overwhelming weeks. Here’s where we say a huge thank you and how grateful we are to the wonderful family and friends that mum held so dear who have given us their support and time.
We were so humbled and grateful to everyone who donated when we asked which helped us to get their house cleaned to become a suitable base for use whilst we supported mum and dad, travelling from our homes in Jersey and Hereford.
Everyone we spoke to wanted to help, we had no idea what to say whilst we fielded the calls about funding and assessments so this is where we reached out and asked if you could contribute.
The additional funds raised will allow us to digitally archive photos and to assist the difficult job of clearing a lifetime of precious belongings. Sadly the reality of Mum & Dad's home belonging to Cotswold District Council means that our time spent at the house was even more precious as and as the end of this journey nears it will have to be handed back to the housing association, leaving us with only our memories and photos.
Following on from these practical costs we really want to create a memorial and legacy for mum to bring comfort to all those remembering her and for others facing this journey and to show our support for the 20+ years Mum worked at Horsfall House.
So please be assured that any funds over and above will all be used to recognise Mum for the kind and beautiful soul she truly is and for direct donation to Horsfall House.
We are so grateful to you all, if you can consider helping it would mean so much so Mum has the legacy she deserves and we can ensure her memory lives on.
Sending love and light to you all, Kay and Suzie xxx