Robin & Anne Upton
Robin is 84 years old and has cancer.
He and his wife, Anne, have been supported by St Peter & St James Hospice since April 2024. Robin had six weeks on the In-patient unit for symptom control at the beginning of 2025, and is now living in a nursing home.
His wife, Anne, tells us about their experience of hospice care: “Robin is someone who never complains, a very stoic man, living with cancer for five years without complaint. Last Christmas, the pain got so bad he collapsed and that’s when the hospice stepped in. He was in the hospice for six weeks, and then I nursed him at home with the help of carers. However, it was too much for me and I struggled to cope, again the hospice helped me to understand the options available.
We have had many friends who spent their last months under the care of the hospice, and so we already knew it was a wonderful place, a space where the care is friendly and dignified. So when we had the option to come to the hospice at the beginning of the year for symptom control, we knew it was the right decision. As soon as you enter the door there is an aura of peacefulness and kindness. In all the time he was there, nothing was too much trouble. The continuity of care after we left the hospice has been amazing, the community nurses call in on Robin regularly, checking his medication and pain levels. They have also taken care of me, ringing to check how I am.
Living with someone with a long-term illness, it has been wonderful to see how much Robin feels at home with the hospice staff, they have different skills to the nursing home staff, and Robin sees them as friends, especially Charlie and John from the community nursing team.
When Robin is well enough, we take part in sessions on a Wednesday at the Living Well Centre, and it says everything about how happy he is at the hospice that, despite being hard of hearing and so worrying he won’t enjoy it, the very thought of seeing the nursing team made him go, and we were blown away when some of the IPU team came and said hello! The volunteers that help put on the Living Well activities make everyone feel so welcome.
Robin, my daughters Anita and Sarah, and I have been truly humbled by the kindness and devotion shown. They are all angels.”
If you’d like to discuss our current volunteer vacancies, then please email us at volunteering@stpjhospice.org, call us on 01444 471 598 or use our contact form.
