‘City Hospice help when you really need it’
A family which has experienced care from City Hospice for three loved ones is encouraging others to support the charity’s urgent appeal to raise £100,000 by the end of March to meet increased demand.
City Hospice, the only provider of home-based specialist palliative care in Cardiff, cared for Dawn Ashford’s son Michael, husband Peter and father Trevor, and provided wider support for the family as a whole.
Dawn’s son, Michael
Michael was a young man loved by everyone with a cheeky smile and wicked sense of humour. He shared his sense of humour with his grandfather Trevor, known affectionately as ‘Poppers’ by his grandchildren, who enjoyed doing jobs like fixing or building items around the house. Peter, who shared four children – Lee, Michael, Craig and Samantha – with wife Dawn, was a dedicated family man and full-time carer for Michael.
Following diagnoses of a serious chest infection, lymphoma and heart problems respectively, Michael, Peter and Trevor were referred to City Hospice and looked after by clinical nurse specialists Catriona and Lynette.
Dawn said: “As a family, we managed Michael’s disability over the years one step at a time. Mike always had a smile and a giggle, remaining his wonderful self. My dad was very accepting of his condition, took everything in his stride and was still thinking of others despite his illness. Pete had been poorly prior to being diagnosed and we were initially devastated when cancer was confirmed. However, he was determined to give treatment a go and had a ‘let’s fight this’ attitude until the end.
Dawn’s husband, Peter
“When you first hear the words hospice and palliative care, you think this is the end. But we soon learnt that there was so much more to the hospice’s services than just palliative care. City Hospice were brilliant; they did everything and anything for us. They helped arrange hospital beds at home, managed prescriptions, provided valuable counselling for myself, Pete and other family members, offered useful advice on benefits changes and answered any questions we had.”
Since City Hospice came into the family’s lives, Dawn has supported the charity by attending their annual Christmas remembrance services, donating to their Light up a Life appeal and purchasing Forever Flowers. Her mum and daughter have also supported Forever Flowers, and Dawn has attended every celebration of life event at the castle with her daughter, whatever the weather.
Dawn’s father, Trevor
Now, Dawn and her family are encouraging people to support the charity’s ‘Donate today, help for tomorrow’ appeal to ensure other families will be able to receive the same vital care they had.
Dawn said: “City Hospice helps families like mine across Cardiff, but they need our help to continue to be there.
“City Hospice do so much good and they were there for us when we really needed it. We had a lot of family support, but we would have been in a worse situation if City Hospice had not been involved. Their services go beyond care; they were always there and able to support us in ways we didn’t even realise they could.
“It’s the little things that make a big difference and the charity made a difficult time easier for us. We are so grateful to them for all they did for our lovely Mike, Pete and Trevor.”
