Memory Trees: Melany’s story

After Melany Bydawell’s husband, Grahame, was cared for at Pilgrims Hospice Thanet in 2017, the family decided to dedicate a silver leaf in his memory as part of our Memory Trees campaign. Here, Melany shares how this helps them give back to Pilgrims in a meaningful way.


Born in Durban, South Africa, Grahame worked in construction for most of his life and absolutely loved rugby and cricket. Prior to leaving South Africa for the UK in 2016, he would go to most rugby games at the stadium in Durban.

Grahame never had a bad word to say about anyone; he was kind, strong, non-judgmental and incredibly patient. He kept his wicked and playfully dry sense of humour until the end and never complained once whilst he was ill – he really was the bravest man in all of our eyes.

Grahame was a real family man and there’s no doubt that he knew how loved and appreciated he was by the dozens of messages received from family and friends saying what an impact he’d on their lives and what a truly special person he was.

During Grahame’s five and a half weeks at Pilgrims’ Thanet hospice, it’s fair to say that every single person we interacted with, be it doctors, nurses, ward sisters, carers, kitchen or cleaning staff, were all so special and caring in their own way.

It’s important to us as a family to make an ongoing contribution to the hospice and the Memory Tree is such a special way of doing this.

Melany

Words cannot express the gratitude that comes from our entire family for the dedicated and loving care that they all gave to Grahame to ensure he was comfortable, and we appreciate their endeavour in every way.

We will forever remain grateful to all of the special people at Pilgrims Hospices, which is why we chose to dedicate a silver leaf to Grahame on the Memory Tree at the Thanet hospice. It’s important to us as a family to make an ongoing contribution to the hospice and the Memory Tree is such a special way of doing this.

We understand how important it is to pay tribute to your loved ones and continue to celebrate their lives.

If you’d like to dedicate a leaf on one of our Memory Trees please visit pilgrimshospices.org/memorytree or contact our friendly Supporter Relations team on 01227 782 062.


If you or someone you know is coping with a life limiting illness and you think you may benefit from Pilgrims free services, talk to your GP or Healthcare Professional about your options or click here to read about our Wellbeing and Social Programme.