Husband and Wife, Dawn and Alan were both cared for at Fair Havens. Dawn was diagnosed with bowel cancer on New Year’s Eve in 2000 and was admitted to Fair Havens specifically for end-of-life care in late October 2001, she died on 30th October aged 64.

In 2015, Alan, was diagnosed with kidney failure, amongst other conditions. Following his diagnosis, he spent a lot of time in and out of hospital and in the end refused dialysis and the only thing that could be done was to make him comfortable. Alan wanted to be cared for at Fair Havens.

Initially a room was not available for him, but the family finally received that “magic telephone call” saying they had a bed Alan and in September 2018 he was admitted to Fair Havens. Alan died at the hospice aged 81 on 19th September 2018.

Julian, their son, said “Mum was only in here for a week or so, but the whole experience was truly amazing. The moment she was admitted to Fair Havens it lifted a whole weight from our shoulders. To have the professional yet compassionate support of Fair Havens was a true godsend.

“Fair Havens and hospice care had all been new to us with Mum, but it was such a positive experience Dad had always hoped he could be there too when he got ill.

“We knew he would be expertly cared for and was in the best place possible. It’s genuinely not an exaggeration to say that the whole set up at Havens from the staff, doctors and nurses through to the kitchen and maintenance guys, everyone involved gets it, they’re all part of the care and it’s remarkable.

“I think in those final days all you can hope for, all I can hope for myself and for my loved ones, is to be comfortable and to have as much stress and pain removed as possible. Fair Havens was different to hospital, both my parents felt as if they were the only people being cared for, they were made to feel special, secure and stress-free.

“If I found myself needing this type of care in the future, Fair Havens is the only place I would want to end up. How can you say anything better than that, that in your finals days this is where you would want to be too? That says it all really.”

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Published in 2019