Carrying out the wishes of our Mum and Granny, Anne Trego

I'm Amy, Anne's daughter. My mum raised me alone and provided me with everything I needed. I'm only realising now she's gone how much comfort she still provided me with, despite being so ill and unable to participate in life in the same way any more. She was a wonderful grandmother who was very loving and great at having fun. She is so loved and missed by us all.

Mum was a nurse many years ago. At the beginning of her career, she suffered a traumatic brain injury and was left with hemiparesis (her right side was all but paralysed). She would have been a nurse her whole life if not for this event, and subsequently lost the relative financial security that having a role like this would have provided.

After her accident, my mum managed to turn her life around with the support of her family and her dear friend, Roger, who very sadly and unexpectedly died last month. She learned to do everything one-handed, and with the opposite hand she was used to. She learned to talk again, she was able to walk again. I was born a few years later and we had a happy life together, made even happier with the arrival of my three children, her grandchildren.

For the past 15+ years my Mum has struggled with a chronic and not very well understood illness called autoimmune hepatitis. This was kept under control with a regimen of drugs, many of which had punishing side-effects. For the past four years she has also dealt with an acute and very cruel condition called Hepatic Encephalopathy, which at its worse would cause her to lose touch with reality and the ability to speak. Thankfully she always came back.

Despite these difficulties my Mum faced in her life, she was never defeated, she was never bitter; she still approached the world with love and kindness. The past few years have been punctuated with extremely dark times, multiple 999 calls, and at least three occasions where it looked like it was the end.

She lived with us until the middle of last year in our family home where we cared for her, which was a deeply challenging time for us all. A year ago I had to leave my job because the stress of being a carer became too much.

In November 2023, after a long spell in the Marie Curie hospice in Woolton Village, she moved to Stapely, where she died peacefully on 29th August. I had the privilege of being with her at the end, I held her hand and we listened to her favourite music. She died whilst I told her how loved she was and how grateful we were for her.

Mum took out a funeral plan in 2006 which, given the rise in the cost of everything, is only enough to cover half of a very basic funeral. Her wish was to have her ashes interred at a woodland burial site in Cornwall. The photo above was taken on her last visit there in 2012.

I am raising money to help make sure we can carry out her wishes; to cover some of the funeral expenses and to secure a plot at Penwith Woodland Burial. Any support you are able to offer would be so appreciated, but these are tough times so please only give if you are able to.

Mum's funeral will be held on Wednesday 18 September at 12:15 at Springwood Crematorium in Liverpool. Afterwards we'll be going to The Elephant in Woolton Village where we'd love to see friends and family.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who has offered kind words and support during this time.