“You never think about The Hospice when everything’s ok. The moment we first visited for physio, Lynn hated it because it was the idea that it was terminal. I think Lynn thought it was a scary place; I didn’t, although I hadn’t been told I was going to die.

“Once we’d been a couple of times she was quite happy going in. Staff reassured her and told her it isn’t just a place where people come to die and I think that reassured her in a way because she was always quite happy going back.

“It was a massive sense of relief. I would say it changed our lives, it certainly changed mine because it gave me some relief and assurance that she had some professional support.

“It gave Lynn something to look forward to on a weekly basis, otherwise if we hadn’t had the visits to the physio and the group sessions to look forward to, we would have been sitting at home for two years on our own feeling isolated.

“You can try to do things but obviously you’re very restricted in what is possible, but when you go to St Helena you appreciate how caring and supportive all the staff are.

“Having known Lynn since we were 14, she dealt with this illness far better than I imagined she would, but then how do you deal with knowing you are going to die?

“I’m not really sure what we would have done without St Helena.”

Lynn died peacefully at Alderwood Care Home in July 2018, surrounded by her loved ones.

Will has since attended one of St Helena’s bereavement groups:

“You realise when something like this happens to you, that you think, incorrectly, that it’s only happening to you. It’s a very insular thing because you are on your own all the time. I think people can’t appreciate how lonely it is, so the groups are really good. It was so helpful to talk to people who found themselves in the same situation as myself

“I really don’t think people appreciate what St Helena offers, I certainly didn’t, and you only get to appreciate what it does offer if it affects your life. It’s an amazing organisation. The care Lynn was given and the support offered to me was amazing. I’m just really thankful they were there for us because it did make such a difference to the quality of life we both had.” 

This story may not be published elsewhere without express permission from St Helena Hospice.