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Weldmar Hospicecare

“I don’t know what I would have done without Weldmar”: John’s Story

8th October 2021

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This week, John Ford received a card in the post from Weldmar Hospicecare.  It was to say that our thoughts were with him one year on from losing his much loved wife, Karen.

Karen was fit and active. She was playing netball regularly and umpiring in the sport at regional and county level. She was then diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It was then that John and Karen tied the knot, having been together for 22 years.

“She was tremendously brave and fought through an enormous operation,” says John, “and it got to the point when the hospital said there was nothing else they could do, and that’s when Weldmar stepped in.”

Wealth of services

John says he was only vaguely aware of the charity, having signed up to be a Lottery player a couple for years previously, but he didn’t really know about the wealth of services Weldmar provided.

“We met Siobhan, who was our Weldmar Community Nurse, and it was a lovely meeting.  She explained what they could do for us, and as Karen was doing well at the time, it was a case of ‘we’re here when you need us’ from Siobhan.”

“When the time came for that help, Siobhan was absolutely phenomenal.  I was at my wit’s end, but she just came in that weekend and took over.  We’d been told we couldn’t have a hospital bed at home, which is where Karen wanted to stay, but Siobhan organised one that day, as well as nurses to come in three times a day.  Siobhan continued to come and see us every day, and I also realised that the support was there for me, as well as Karen.”

“I don’t know what I would have done without Weldmar there.  The service is so good, so fantastic.  They sorted out little things that we never even thought of, such as a Blue Badge for parking, which made Karen laugh.”

“Weldmar called me a number of times over the following months, to make sure I was okay.  And then I got the card this week, one year on.”

Pictured above: John Ford with Weldmar Community Nurse Siobhan O’Hanlon. John bought flowers for Siobhan, and made a donation to the charity.

We thank John for sharing his story with us.

Help make sure we are there for people like John and Karen in future.  You can donate an affordable monthly gift, or play our weekly lottery for just £1 a week.  You can even consider leaving a gift in your Will.

 

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