Through Cancer Club and her Pilates classes, Kay has spent more than 13 years shaping lives at the Hospice. She expertly creates spaces where people affected by cancer and other life-impacting illnesses can reconnect with their bodies, confidence and each other.
Kay first volunteered in spiritual care yet ended up also offering Pilates classes, with the common thread always being people. “I've always loved helping people and getting them moving and more confident when they've had a tough diagnosis.” She teaches a course of adapted Pilates classes twice a year at the Hospice, carefully tailoring movement to each person’s needs. The first session revolves around her “listening with my eyes” to assess where people are both physically and emotionally. As Kay says, “It's working out what I can do for that person to make them feel that they're doing something really good for themselves.”
That philosophy also underpins Cancer Club, a monthly group Kay co-runs that offers a private, supportive space at the Hospice for people living with cancer. Having successfully undergone cancer treatment herself, the group exists to fill what she describes as a crucial gap, “There’s the treatment and then there’s you. We aim to offer the middle bit – a space to talk.” Cancer Club is deliberately for those with lived experience of cancer – not carers or relatives – because empathy and openness are key. The group supports people through treatment, recovery and loss, standing alongside members at moments many would struggle to share elsewhere.
The Hospice has benefitted massively from Kay’s compassion over the years and she remains a dedicated champion of the organisation, enthusiastically adding, “I just think it's the most amazing and collective place. It wraps around families at the worst possible time. It's part of the town.”
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