Thoughtful Pilgrims patient, Steve Price, treated the care team at Pilgrims Hospice Thanet to ice lollies as temperatures in Margate rocketed into the high 20 degrees.
Computer programmer Steve, who took early retirement in 2004, has been spending some time at the Margate hospice to help manage his pain before returning to his home in Deal. Steve was diagnosed with life-limiting pancreatic cancer; the Pilgrims community team has been supporting him and will continue to visit his home when he returns there soon.
Steve said: “I thought it would be nice to offer the Pilgrims staff a cooling treat during this prolonged period of scorching temperatures. My daughter, Kate, did some ice lolly shopping before bringing my granddaughter Lucy to visit me at the Thanet hospice.
I was so pleased to have been able to offer some cooling treats to the Pilgrims team. I just thought everyone has been so kind and looked after me, I wanted to do something nice for them. The staff have been brilliant.
Steve
“Pilgrims chef George found freezer space for the lollies and I was so pleased to have been able to offer some cooling treats to the Pilgrims team. I just thought everyone has been so kind and looked after me, I wanted to do something nice for them. The staff have been brilliant; nothing is too much trouble, even though the heat has been quite exhausting for everyone.”
Pilgrims’ care team Maxine Lewis, Sharon Hill, Louise Jarman and Lou Boulton
Georgina Braithwaite, Head Chef at Pilgrims Hospice Thanet, said: “It was a lovely surprise and a very kind gesture made by Steve. The mini heat wave has been quite a challenge over the past weeks so the lollies were really appreciated.
“My catering team has been working continuously to keep our patients, their families and our staff refreshed and hydrated. Our juicer machine has been working full time to supply cold fresh juice to patients whose appetites are being affected by some of the hottest weather we’ve experienced in a long time.”
It was a lovely surprise and a very kind gesture made by Steve. The mini heat wave has been quite a challenge over the past weeks so the lollies were really appreciated.
Georgina Braithwaite, Head Chef at Pilgrims Hospices
Steve’s daughter Kate said: “Everyone has been so lovely to my dad, he’s had time to relax and respond to his treatment. We are very aware that the environment really feels like home and everyone is always ready to offer help and greet us with a kind smile.
“The staff and volunteers have been wonderful and spent time with my daughter Lucy, which has allowed me to have some precious time with my dad.”
It’s great to be making and sharing some wonderful memories right now.
Steve
Steve is looking forward to going home to enjoy the Deal seafront and also a special visit from his family who are arriving from Australia, especially as he will meet a new grandchild for the first time. Proud granddad Steve is also looking forward to sharing ice lollies and other seaside treats with them this summer.
“Although I know I will not be there to see all of the grandchildren grow up, it’s great to be making and sharing some wonderful memories right now,” Steve added.
Each year Pilgrims supports hundreds of local people coping with a life-limiting illness and their families. The charity offers a range of services: from end of life care given on its wards to its Wellbeing and Social Programme supporting people after they are diagnosed to live well and stay independent.
7th February 2018
“Have that conversation, help is at hand for your family”
Pilgrims care extends beyond the person who is ill to include their family and friends. Families coping with a terminal illness can be empowered to have the conversations they need to make the most of the time they have. Here Holly Cooke from Ashford shares her story.
I was 21 when Dad was diagnosed with cancer. He was mad keen on golf and always at the club helping with charity events. Everyone he knew was stunned when he got ill because he was such a fit and healthy man. When it’s your Dad you don’t know what to do.
Support to stay independent
We formed a close connection with Pauline his doctor, it was a collaborative approach and it made such a difference being listened to. It’s really important to be able to manage your own illness. Dad was fiercely independent and to have that support until the last minute meant he could make his own choices about his care. He was an incredible man.
He came for courses of pain management support for over a year and had specialist massages from the Pilgrims complimentary therapist.
While Dad was seeing the specialists, Mum was given the option to use the support groups, although she didn’t attend due to the support and advice given by the doctors and nurses at the hospice. It was a relief to know she was getting what she needed to give her the strength to care for him. We could do things as a family in that time we had together.
“We could do things as a family in that time we had together.”
I would not change the way Dad went in the end. He had been give a prognosis of anywhere from a few months to 18 – in the end he lived for 16 which was brilliant. It was definitely down to the care he received at Pilgrims that we could do things as a family in that time we had together.
We felt safe at the hospice
On the Friday before he died Dad went for a three mile walk, he was still feeling fit and active. I remember him sitting out in the garden in the sun reading the newspaper.
Then on the Saturday, the day before he died, he couldn’t get out of bed but we were watching films together. He was really with us, laughing and joking.
In the end he wasn’t on the hospice ward long. I was at work when I got the call that he had been taken in and within an hour and a half he had died.
We were in shock but the ward sister was brilliant. She gave us a private room. It was all very calm and we felt like we were in safe hands.
The care for our family didn’t end when Dad died, we were offered support and Mum was supported by a hospice counsellor.
If I could speak to other people in my situation or Dad’s who don’t think the hospice can help or who’s scared of going – I would say just go and speak to them, have that conversation.
So many people are scared because they think it’s going to be a sad place. What they don’t see is that when you get there you will see beautiful gardens to walk in, there’s a lovely chapel and people smile at you. No one is sad because they are in the right place.
If you or someone you know is living with a life-limiting illness there is a wide range of support and services available. Talk to your GP or click here to find out more.
