On 16th October we will be joined by our close friends and family to celebrate Calum's christening. It should be a combined celebration with mum for her 64th birthday but as you all know she will be celebrating her birthday somewhere else, looking over us enviously as she sees other people fussing and cuddling her grandchildren.

In mum's final weeks she was cared for by the amazing staff at Florence Nightingale Hospice. Mum went into the hospice to get her medicines under control but she never came out and under 3 weeks later she passed away. The staff cared for mum like she was their friend and sat with her day and night when our family were unable to be with her. Throughout her stay, every member of staff treated mum with respect and ensured that she retained her dignity until the day she passed away. 

One story that mum told me was that late one night she was listening on her headphones to a CD that dad had made her of him singing and playing her favourite songs on his guitar. She had started crying and one of the nurses looked into her room, saw she was upset and came and sat with her, holding her hand while she continued to listen to the music and fell asleep. Nothing was too much trouble for them.

When she went into a paranoid state days before she passed away, she was suspicious of the staff and made accusations about their actions. They re-assured us that this was a common phase of the dying process and never once reacted or changed their behaviour towards mum. They spent a lot of time talking to my dad, Will and I about what to expect from mum in her final days and one of the nurses was in the room with dad supporting him as she took her final breathe.

I can not describe how amazing the staff at the hospice are and we want to raise money for their charity to ensure that they can continue to be able to support families like ours when their loved ones are staying at the hospice.

Therefore we are asking our family and friends who are attending Calum's christening to make a donation to the Florence Nightingale Hospice charity as an alternative to buying Calum a christening present. If you are a UK taxpayer, please tick the 'Gift Aid' box to ensure that the charity receive the maximum amount of money as possible.

Thank you in advance,

Rosie, Iain, Ewan and Calum

 

.