In Loving Memory of Dee Deroy Parker, Wife, Mummy, Nanny and Dear Friend!

Sadly mum became unwell in August of 2014. After a few months of tests and hospital appointments she was diagnosed with a mass on her Adreanal glad.  We were told that it was a benign tumour which was likely to be caused from an over production of a hormone and they would do surgery to remove it. After more months of tests and really getting no where mum started to become extremely unwell, she was in and out of hospital while the consultants tried to get her medication correct which they said would enable them to do the surgery.  We were getting closer to finding out a date for the surgery and mum went to her appointment with the hope of coming away with a date, unfortunately this was not the case! Mum was told that the tumour had grown so fast within a two week period that it was now inoperable and was actually a cancerous tumour!

As you can imagine our world fell apart!! Mum was now extremely unwell and we had no support from the hospital, my amazing Pop's (Dad) had no help and was the sole carer for my mum. 

Thankfully mum was then referred to the palliative care specialist by the GP and a lovely nurse from St Raphael's came round to meet us and talked through everything.  We finally felt that we were getting some support and help.  The care team got mum a room at St Raphael's and as soon as she arrived we all felt that is was a blessing that she was there! 

Everyone has a perception of what a hospice would be like...but I can assure you that St Raphael's is nothing like the bad images you would have! 

What an amazing place St Raphael's is!!! My mum was someone that was not easily pleased away from home, (who can blame her we like what we like) especially if she is not feeling 100%, but she was very happy there. When I went to see her once she had arrived I remember coming away thinking it was the first time I had seen her look content in a very long time! 

Not only is the nursing care she received incredible but the little touches that are there make it an even more magnificent place. 

They looked after my mummy Dee with the upmost of respect and care and the most wonderful thing was that everyone she met genuinely cared about her and they went out of their way to ensure that she was happy during her final weeks/days.  We feel they gave us quality time with mum in the days she had left. Which really was priceless!

I could go on for pages with all the small and big things that St Raphael's has done for us, instead we would like to show our appreciation by raising the amount of money that we estimate it would have cost for mums care whist she was there.  It is a big challenge but we will work hard to give this money back and hopefully give someone else the chance to have the same quality of care at the end of their life.

Sadly my mum did not get the treatment from the hospital needed to save her life and I know she felt cheated that she didn't have the option to fight her cancer, but St Raphael's helped restore her spirt because they did care all through her stay. 

As a family we thank everyone at St Raphael's and hope we can make a difference as you did for us!

x

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