“We had home visits from nurses and hospice staff who talked us through what would happen and what we needed to do.


“We didn’t know what to expect, but when someone is seriously ill anything can happen at any time. The hospice’s staff helped us to fit all of the equipment we needed and made sure I would know what to do.


“Those were distressing days and it really took it out of me – but if it hadn’t been for the St Giles Hospice at Home team I don’t know how we would have coped.”


While Claire was confident Chris was getting all the help he needed in his final days, she now understands how important a role St Giles played in her own ability to function as best she could.


“I looked forward to their visits because they helped relieve a lot of the stress from the circumstances,” says Claire.


“As Chris’s health got worse, nurses began staying overnight, which allowed me to sleep without having to keep one eye open in case I was needed.


“I’m quite a private person and had been a little anxious with the thought of a stream of strangers coming in and out of my house. But, from the very first visit, I never found it a problem – the staff who visited were always professional and efficient, yet very sensitive and caring about the situation.”


Although Chris was determined to stay at home, rather than be cared for in the hospice, Claire is keen to stress that St Giles’ staff help people to make informed choices about end-of-life care.


“It amazes me to think


about the support and care we received from St Giles.”


“You don’t have to make a choice alone,” she says. “Whether a loved one is cared for at home or goes into the hospice, there is no ‘best thing’ other than the one that works best for the individuals involved. I always felt supported and never pressured.”


When they got together in 2003, Claire and Chris had no reason to suspect they’d have so little time together.


“Chris had always been perfectly healthy; he was a strapping six-foot man who loved life and was always out and about with his friends – he really lived life to the full,” she says.


“We had been together four years when he suddenly had four massive seizures in September 2007. I was freaked out because he had never had them before.


“We got married later that year – on Christmas Eve – but he still kept going to hospital while the doctors tried to work out what had caused the seizures.


“In May 2008 his tests revealed there was a growth on his brain and he went in for surgery, to have a biopsy, but came out having had a tumour removed.


“The doctors said at best he was likely to live for three more years. In the end, he was alive for two.”


Since Chris’s death, Claire has been a staunch supporter of St Giles Hospice. In 2011 she and some of her husband’s friends and relatives raised an amazing £1,500 by taking part in the popular Solstice Walk fundraiser.


Claire with friends (l to r)Suzanne Cross and Joy Humbridge at last year’s Solstice Walk


“St Giles Hospice needs all the support it can get,” she says. “It amazes me to think about the support and care we received from St Giles. They ensured Chris could achieve exactly what he wanted – to die at home, surrounded by the loved ones who mattered most.”


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HOSPICE NEWS


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