“I’m too busy living.” Wellbeing Centre patient, Nicola Jones, tells us how the hospice has given her a new lease of life.

Recently Nicola (Nic/Nicky), went to Disneyland Paris with 14 family members and we have it on good authority that it was Nicky, not Mickey, bringing the fun!

Throughout our chat her infectious laugh sets us off, she’s chuckling away, finding the fun in everything and cheering us up no end.

Nicola’s living with a challenging, secondary, breast cancer which makes her happiness even more uplifting.

However, in all honesty, she says wasn’t feeling so positive when the cancer she’d been in remission from, some 15 or 16 years ago, returned,

“In the months following my more recent diagnosis I’d thought really hard and spoken with all my family about arranging a trip abroad to seek help to die. My mind was filled with thoughts of imminent pain and disability and I was resolved in my mind.

But then, thank goodness, I attended a consultation with Wirral Hospice’s medical director, Dr Emma Longford, and all that began to change. She was absolutely brilliant and after just a couple of empathetic, but frank, consultations I agreed to try a spell with the hospice’s Wellbeing Centre team and in hindsight it was one of the best things I’ve ever done.

Sessions with Tracy, (she’s wonderful) to help with fatigue, anxiety and breathlessness (FAB) are, literally, a breath of fresh air. I now practise the breathing techniques when I’m at home and soon find any anxiety disappearing.

And, what a laugh! I’ve got new friends amongst the other patients and, after completing eight weeks of initial Wellbeing Centre sessions I joined the Wednesday check-in and chat group where we might be doing quizzes, getting our heart beating with Gym-Ball drumming, definitely giggling and always setting the world to rights.

The volunteers are lovely. Maggie, Sue and Geoff join in the fun but are also very attentive, bringing us tea, coffee, biscuits and cake to keep us going.

The staff team are magnificent. They facilitate the fun and the, sometimes, serious discussions too. If there’s any clinical needs Ryan, Kate, Bernice and Ashley are there to take care of us all.

You couldn’t ask for a nicer gang of people and I can’t remember the exact moment I said to myself, ‘Hold on a minute, why am I thinking about dying, I’m too busy living.’

Wirral Hospice St John’s has given me back my sparkle. Everyone there has my best interests at heart”

Nic, Essex born and bred, has lived in Wirral for over 20 years now. She and husband Pete found love second time around having met on a coach trip to Lake Garda in the year 2000.

After settling in Wirral she worked at Autism Together for many years and has done the hard yards in making a significant difference to people living with autism. A real, real difference.

Nic and Pete have a growing blended family with four grown up children between them (Adrian, Michelle, Sharon and Zanny – short for Suzanne) and 6 grandchildren.

Retired now, there’s an awful lot to do and Nic is only looking forward to adding Disneyland to the long list of holiday destinations she and Pete have taken in, in these last several years (with a couple more later this year) before planning more for 2024!

Amalfi Coast, Azores, Canada, Canaries, Caribbean, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, India, Malta, New Zealand, Paris, Russia and USA.  

 Wherever next?

Well, as we mentioned, Disneyland Paris, then back to the Azores in November and the Canaries for Christmas.

Absolutely Brilliant!

Safe travels Nic, we’re with you all the way!

Regular donations, monthly, 6-monthly or annually, enable us to support people like Nicola when they’re facing the most challenging time of their lives. If you’d like to support us in this way you can find all the ways to do so at www.wirralhospice.org/regulargiving