Tess’ Story: ‘Weldmar has helped me to make the most of life’
Meet Tess. She is a patient of Weldmar Hospicecare in the north of Dorset, and during her time in our care has also fundraised for us. Here, she shares more about the help she’s received from Weldmar and what that’s meant to her.
Until the summer of 2020, Tess’ care had been handled by Yeovil District Hospital’s oncology team. When they suggested referring Tess to Weldmar, she remembers feeling completely lost.
After meeting Emma Randall, Weldmar’s Community Nurse in the Sherborne area, things changed. ‘Emma took control. I was handed over to the right people, at the right time.’ Tess says.
‘I felt like Emma had wrapped her arms around me, lifting the weight and worry. I was worried about everything; about deteriorating and how I would manage, and about how my husband would manage.
‘Emma was just so reassuring. Whatever problem I had, she had an answer. She convinced me that she would help me manage the pain, and understood how I was feeling, and helped me make sense of that.
She’d arrive at the house and I would be feeling very low, and when she left I would be smiling. She put everything that I was worried about in its place and made me understand that we could manage it.’
Emma says ‘It was a pleasure to support Tess and her husband and I am glad I was able to offer comfort, reassurance and advice.’
Tess has accessed several services provided by the charity. These include Weldmar Connect, our own ground-breaking app for recording symptoms, also receiving an examination from a Weldmar doctor, speaking to the counselling team about what was going on and accepting that she couldn’t return to work, as well as receiving complementary therapy.
Tess wanted to give something back to Weldmar for all of the help she’d received and so, on the first anniversary of being referred to Weldmar, Tess swam one mile and raised over £5,000 for Weldmar.
Tess says ‘Doing the training and fundraising gave me a focus. I wanted to say thank you to and give something back for the amazing support I’ve had.’
Before I was involved with Weldmar, I thought a hospice was about dying. Weldmar has helped me to make the most of the life I have left. So instead of focusing on the end, they focus on the here and now, and they do that in lots and lots of ways. I am so glad that Weldmar is part of my life.
Thank you to Tess for sharing her story. If you would like to share your Weldmar journey with us, please contact us.
