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Because of you...

Graham is being supported through his illness

When Graham Lee and his wife, Liz, relocated to Pewsey last year to be closer to their family, they wondered whether they would receive the same sort of health care and support that they had enjoyed in their hometown in Derbyshire.

Graham was diagnosed with tonsil cancer in 2000, which had spread.

“I had great treatment, recovered and could get back to normal life,” says Graham, “but the radiotherapy did leave me with some side effects. About seven years ago, I started losing a sense of feeling in my left arm and hand, and had pain and restricted movement in my shoulder. This was down to neuropathy following the radiotherapy, and soon those symptoms spread, and I found I had all sorts of restrictions. My voice became weaker, I had trouble swallowing and my neck and shoulder became more painful and immobile.”

Graham had excellent care in Derbyshire, including from his local hospice there, but his symptoms were getting more diverse. It emerged that he had also developed a second additional form of neuropathy, where antibodies in his blood attack his nerve receptors. The two were unconnected, so it was very bad luck, but it made sense to move nearer their daughter in Wiltshire.

“A nurse from Prospect Hospice, Tina Baker, came out to see me and comes out regularly now. She has helped arrange the transfer of my care from Derbyshire to here,” says Graham.

“She has helped get so many things arranged and makes sure I have all my needs met, despite the fact that they have become complex. She arranged for me to see the hospice’s consultant Dr Simon Brooks in Marlborough, who has referred me to a specialist clinic in Bath that treats post-radiotherapy plexopathy in the chest/shoulder/neck area.

“Prospect Hospice has been very helpful in the therapeutic area, too. I’ve had four sessions of reiki at the hospice which allows me to relax and have a bit of space to feel positivity. I’m pleasantly surprised how that has helped with the mental side of feeling unwell.

“Tina also put me on to a very good acupuncturist in Marlborough, which has been life-changing for me. One session there can give me five days and nights of pain relief, whereas without it I’m normally up at night with pain in my neck and shoulder. This allows me to sleep through, which is such a help.

“At a very vulnerable and often frightening time in people’s lives, the hospice provides a re-assuring safety net.

“Even if I’d lived here all my life, I wouldn’t have known how to access the best support, but the team at Prospect Hospice does and it has made such a positive difference. Prospect Hospice is simply a marvelous place.”

 

Because of you...

Because of you, we’re there for Graham. Without you, we won’t be there for others like him. To donate to support the work of Prospect Hospice in your community and help care of other local people like Graham, click below.

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