The Family member's story

Emma, 24 from Chesham knows only too well what it feels like to lose someone special and no one was more special than her mum, Paula.

In 2006, Paula was diagnosed with cancer and initially coped quite well. However, in March 2007, Paula started to deteriorate and was admitted to The Hospice of St. Francis for pain relief and to control her symptoms. Paula responded to treatment, but unexpectedly, nine days later, she died and her daughter Emma’s world was suddenly blown apart.

“I was so naïve” Emma says “I presumed mum would be fine, I was just not prepared for what happened and I had never experienced such pain. I only wish I had had a chance to say goodbye”.

Since then, Emma has been supported by Kimberley McLaughlin and her amazing Family Support Team at The Hospice of St. Francis.

“Kimberley has been wonderful. I visit the Hospice every 4-6 weeks for a 1-2-1 counselling session and over the past year this has helped me enormously, I feel so much stronger, I can now even talk about the whole experience and I have learnt different ways to cope”.

Last year, just 3 months after her Mum died, Emma took part in the ‘Walk with the Stars’ midnight walk. She says “I felt proud to be supporting the people who helped my mum, and I knew mum would have been so pleased, but obviously I just missed her so much, so for me it was an exhilarating, yet emotional night. The atmosphere was amazing and my friends and I walked at quite a fast pace. We were back eating bacon rolls three and a half hours after the start and I was home in my bed by 4.00 am!”

This year, Emma and her team of friends, The Vixens, have signed up for Walk with the Stars. “We are all really looking forward to it. In the past year I have raised over £500 through various events. It’s a great feeling to be able to give something back to the Hospice, they were so kind to my mum”.