I am so glad they were there to help me fulfil Mum’s wish

My mum, Alison Finnemore, was diagnosed in October 2021 with stage 4 triple negative breast cancer, it spread quickly within four weeks to her lungs and lymph nodes. Mum decided she didn’t want to waste a further day of life attending numerous scans and appointments and instead wanted to make the most of the time she had left.

In April 2022 Mum started to receive care from the nurses at Florence Nightingale Hospice, initially this was via phone calls where the nurses offered advice on medication. It was nice to know that there was a service you could call on, it was efficient, if we ever left a message they always called back.

In July 2022 Mum met Gemma from the team, she visited the house to offer support with medication and she helped Mum to decide whether she wanted to stay at home or go in to hospice care. Mum was adamant that she wanted to remain at home so Gemma put all of the plans in place to provide Mum with all of the necessary equipment and to make her feel comfortable at home.

During the Summer Mum and Dad celebrated their 58^th wedding anniversary, they arranged a lovely party and Mum enjoyed seeing all her friends, ex pupils and colleagues. Mum made sure that she lived life to the full, taking the time to see friends and family, passing on her famous marmalade recipe to me and enjoying cuddles with our recently adopted rescue cat Charlie.

As Mum began to deteriorate Gemma’s visits increased from fortnightly to weekly. I was able to call on her for any support we needed. I also took early retirement after 26 years as a nurse to care for mum, I saw this as my last gesture to mum and with the support from hospice team and family we were able to care for Mum at home.

FNH@Home has truly been a great service and the hug I received when needed has kept me going. The palliative care team, especially Gemma and Sharon, have been a fabulous support for me and my Dad. I am so glad they were there to help me fulfil Mum’s wish.

Mum was passionate about fundraising, she has always been this way, right from 1982 after her first brush with breast cancer when she raised money to get a portable scanner so women didn’t have to travel to the JR. In her final months, Mum and Dad jointly raised close to £3000 for Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity.

By Christina Hutson, Alison’s daughter