In February 2023, Jo was diagnosed with cancer, which has now spread to her lungs and bones.

Jo’s connection to Havens Hospices is longstanding. When Little Havens first opened its doors, she volunteered there in housekeeping. When she and her husband were invited to the Little Havens Open Day last year as supporters, she was keen to see the new Fair Havens too, as she had only visited the previous hospice in Chalkwell.

Jo toured Fair Havens with her husband, daughter and best friend.

“I had an ulterior motive,” she admits. “Which, unfortunately, was that I would like to have end of life care here. I just wanted my family to become familiar with it and to see the hospice itself.”

When she mentioned it on the tour, she was pointed in the direction of the Fair Havens Hub and encouraged to self-refer. Her first instinct was that it might be too soon — but she’s glad she was persuaded otherwise.

Since coming to the Fair Havens Hub, Jo has completed the HOPE Course, is currently taking part in the Elephant in the Room group, and has also tried creative therapy — including a watercolour workshop and one-to-one sessions making keepsakes such as keyrings to treasure.

The creative sessions have had an unexpected impact. “The last few months have been really stressful, but I feel safe here,” she says. “Doing some of the art therapy has made me want to do things like that at home as well. I do patchwork anyway, but I’ve actually got the watercolours out at the weekend after doing a watercolour class here last week — and thoroughly enjoyed that.

“It’s very hard not to wake up and not think about cancer every day. You want to be the old Jo — you want to be you. So getting creative has really worked as a distraction.”

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Published in 2026