I lost my father to cancer on September 10th 2001, the day before 9/11. His stomach cancer was undiagnoised until post-mortem, so we'd had no period of "living with" or "preparing for".
He'd been poorly for a couple of weeks, but it didn't seem to be anything too serious; then on the Monday afternoon I got a frantic call the get down the road as he was seriously ill. Unfortunately he'd passed away before I made it to Yorkshire, but even at that point I was grateful that he hadn't suffered and that we hadn't had a long period of coping with the disease.
Not everyone is so lucky. Many people are able to battle and defeat, or at least delay, this disease; but many thousands more have to go through a long period of caring for a loved one, watching them gradually deteriorate until they die.
Marie Curie specialise in end-of-life care, and promote the belief that as the end approaches, people have the right to die in their own homes, surrounded by the things and people they most love.
This needs support, and Marie Curie's network of nurses provide that support, caring for the patient in their home and providing support and respite for the families. Their 2000 nurses provide 1.2m hours of home care each year, as well as hospice services and R&D funding. 70% of their funding is from charitable donations, and the "daffodil team" is a regular sight at events like the VLM.
In many ways, I'm glad that we had no need for the services Marie Curie provide, but thousands of people need them at the most difficult and traumatic time of their lives. So please give generously.
