Updated on Oct 29th 2012 at 6:54 PM from the JustGiving AP

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

My wonderful, lovely, caring, gorgeous dad - Ian McHarrie - died of terminal cancer on 31st January 2012. He was cared for by us, his loving family, at home but in the end it wasn't enough for him and as his body failed him he started to panic, he wanted the comfort of experts around him. So, luckily for us, there was a space in the Nightingale House Hospice in Wrexham and it was there that he spent the last week of his life.

He was cared for so well and the staff were wonderful with him and us. I stayed over one night, as did my sister, my mum and my 2 brothers, all on separate nights so that he was never on his own.

In the end, he was delusional, he didn't know where he was and what was going on, but he was still my dad and even right at the end he still smiled that glorious smile and held our hands. He was a true, true inspiration right up to the end.

When he passed away we were all with him, the staff made us feel at ease and explained what would happen from here. They sent us into a family room and tidied him up and just made him look so peaceful, they even shaved his face and tidied up his 'goatee' because when he fell ill he decided that he wanted to look like my brother Andrew (he has always had a goatee beard!)

It is the small touches like this that makes this place so special. They made what should have been a horrendously painful and sad experience into a bearable one with lots of special memories. They made my dad comfortable when he was in severe pain and in a state of emotional distress, and that is something that I will be eternally grateful to them for.

This is why I want to raise as much money as I possibly can for this worthy cause. You never, ever, want your loved ones to die of a terminal illness but places like Nightingale House Hospice exist so that your loved ones can die with dignity and have their pains, worries and anxieties taken away from them. They remove the responsibility away from you so that the last days with your loved ones are special, meaningful and something that you will treasure xxx

 

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