Ribble Valley Pub Walk 22nd June 2024

We as a company (Mitie) are raising funds to be donated to East Lancashire Hospice in memory of not only my mum, but everyone who sadly passed away from Cancer. We would love to get as many people as possible involved in this amazing walk/get together.

This charity is very close to my heart. My mum was diagnosed with STG 4 Bowel cancer (that had spread) in 2021, she went through 4 different chemo treatments which unfortunately did not work (we was visiting Blackburn hospital at least 3 times a week at one point) , Mum started to progressively deteriorate. She was in and out of hospital all the time, risks of sepsis & infections (due to her immune system being so weak)

Early September 2023 mum got admitted into hospital and was diagnosed with a collapsed lung (from sitting in A&E corridors for 27 hours) as well as pneumonia. A Palliative nurse was then looking after mum as when they had done further scans in hospital they had noticed that the cancer had spread excessively (we was then told she had approximately 2 months to live) I was actually in the office when I got this news, it broke me. The Palliative nurse was amazing with us, we all knew mum wanted to go into hospice care when she was close to end of life and the nurse took this upon herself to sort. Mum got discharged from hospital after 16 days of her being admitted, and within 3 days she was put into the hospice. We were shown around by a hospice nurse called Ridar who explained everything and made me, and mum feel so comfortable. That first day of mum going into the hospice she got anything and everything she wanted, every single nurse that was working came in and introduced themselves and we knew from that point mum was in the right place. Due to mum not eating very well the hospice accommodated to her needs and gave her whatever she needed/wanted at any time whether it was night or day.

As time went on mum started getting confused and kept telling the nurses she was in trouble with the police and that she wanted to go home ect. She even tried escaping multiple times! Mum wasn’t an angel in there, she drove the nurses round the bend, but the love and care they showed towards mum even at her worse points was phenomenal. In mums last days the doctors within the hospice kept us up to date with everything and supported us as a family emotionally and physically (big hugs were always given).

Mum sadly passed away on the 27th of October at 03:01am, even though it was very early in the morning the hospice let all of us (4 of us) as a family be with mum. I can’t honestly thank the hospice enough for what they did, not just for mum but for us all as a family.

Cancer is relentless, and these incredible nurses help so many vulnerable people who are sadly going through a horrific time so please, lets all get together raise some money and have fun on this walk!