An impromptu taxi tour to places that hold special childhood memories was exactly the nostalgia trip St Luke’s patient Steve Wright wanted after weeks of feeling too weak and cautious to leave the house.
Spending time in the sunshine on the waterfront at Devonport, showing his wife, Bute, the places he loved when he was a little boy made him feel “like I’d won the lottery”.
It was Lynette Ball’s dearest wish to witness her son, Stuart, marry his partner, Amy. But with a terminal diagnosis and Lynette’s health deteriorating rapidly, time was running short.
That’s when the St Luke’s nursing team caring for the 60-year-old mother and grandmother at her home on Plymouth’s Barbican pulled out all the stops to make her dream come true.
“St Luke’s took the reins we didn’t know how to steer and guided us with gentle hands right through to the very end.”
Like many of the walkers taking part in our Midnight Walk on Friday, Danielle Craig, a Learning Support Practitioner at Duchy College, will be taking on the walk in memory of someone special, her late husband Lee.
As modest as he is kind, Andy Campbell would never describe himself as a ‘hospice hero’, but having reached the milestone of 35 years’ dedicated service with St Luke’s – making him the team’s longest serving current employee – it’s a title that could not be more deserved.
When Marc Fletcher and his best mate started making plans to climb Mount Snowdon in memory of his late mother, Eve – shining a spotlight on the care she received from St Luke’s Hospice Plymouth – they asked his father, George, if he’d like to take the train up to meet them at the top and perhaps walk back down.
But the 85-year-old was having none of it. If they were climbing Snowdon – the highest peak in Wales – then George wasn’t going to take the easy option. For him it’s not only a way to honour his wife of 55 years, but also to raise funds for St Luke’s so that other local families can benefit from the compassionate doorstep urgent care service he had no idea existed until they experienced it themselves earlier this year.
Our volunteers are a truly inspiring bunch. They selflessly give up their time to help others, rarely getting time themselves to relax and unwind.
Which is why we were overjoyed when one of our dedicated volunteers was awarded a special mini-break thanks to Room to Reward, a volunteer-recognition charity who offer UK based breaks for hidden heroes.
Sheila Eccleston, who lives in Hooe, has been volunteering for half a day every week on our reception at our specialist unit at Turnchapel for the last decade, having celebrated her 10 year anniversary in November last year. It was her unwavering dedication and kind-hearted nature that meant she was nominated for the reward.
St Luke’s has thrown open the doors of its spacious new charity shop in Ivybridge, welcoming customers keen to donate their good-quality, unwanted items and snap up bargains in aid of local hospice care. There to cut the ribbon at the store’s official opening on Monday 7 May 2024 was the town’s Mayor, Councillor Alan Spencer, who was joined by shop manager Dee Spiller and community nurses from St Luke’s at home team.
A pair of friends will be making every paddle count as they take on an epic challenge in aid of St Luke’s.
Ben Patrick and Gareth Thomas are embarking on a six day kayak challenge along the Jurassic coast today in memory of Ben’s sister Netha and Gareth’s mum.
The focus for this year’s Hospice UK Dying Matters Awareness Week (6-12 May) is how we talk about death and dying. Senior palliative care nurse Cathryn Goodchild, lead clinical educator at St Luke’s, asks why people shy away from the “D” words and explains why correct language matters.
“Marian was just a brilliant human being.”
These are the words that David Lane uses to describe his late wife, Marian, a dedicated and inspirational mum, daughter, sister, friend and teacher who sadly died in November.
