Local Families Come Together To Share Their Story In Support Of Dove House’s Summer Appeal

Dove House Hospice relies on appeals like their Summer Appeal to be able to support their local community of Hull and East Yorkshire, but they need your help. Over the past year the hospices costs have risen by a staggering £1 million, with only a small increase of £27,000 in government funding helping to offset these additional costs.

Can you help your local hospice to continue their vital services at a time when demand for hospice care is on the rise?

Christine, whose husband died at Dove House aged just 68, shares how the hospice went above and beyond for them as Keith started to deteriorate. Frankie also shares how the hospice helped her process her dad dying when she was just 10 years old. 

Christine and Frankie are urging the community to donate to ensure the hospice can continue to be a lifeline for families like theirs.

Christine: “The nursing staff at the hospice were so good at settling at Dove House, sorting his pain, and going the extra mile to meet his needs. For this, my family and I will be forever grateful. We were able to have family and friends visit at any time, and Keith was able to say goodbye to those he loved. I even took our beloved dog, Bob, to see him. He loved that.”

“The staff made him comfortable as he slowly deteriorated. I held him in my arms, our boys held his hands. We told him we loved him as he took his last breath. I like to think he knew we were all there surrounding him with love. Keith was only 68 years old. We had been married just two weeks short of 48 years, together for 50 years. He was the love of my life.”

Frankie: “My dad was an incredible person and someone I really looked up to. I didn’t really believe that he had died, it all felt like a big lie. Everything was surreal and I felt very isolated.”

“At the time I wasn’t sure how to process it. How do you learn to live without your dad at just 10 years old? How does any child work through that? I struggled to open up about how I was feeling.”

“Six years later and I still hadn’t found a way to deal with losing my dad. He was my world, and nothing seemed to help with that pain. I still missed him so much.”

“I started one-to-one sessions at Dove House to try and understand my feelings. Going back to when my dad died was hard but it helped me to process it. I am able to talk about what I went through and don’t feel so alone anymore thanks to everything to hospice helped me with.”

“The sessions at the hospice have helped me to understand how I feel about things and come to terms with my dad dying. Nothing will ever take away that pain, but it feels lighter now.”

A donation at this time will have a direct impact on our services, ensuring that local people like Christine, Keith and Frankie will always have a hand to hold during even the hardest of days.

Evie Gunnell, Individual Giving Fundraiser at Dove House, has this to say: “We would like to thank both Christine and Frankie for sharing his family’s experiences in support of Dove House. Their stories really do show how vital the hospice is on our community. Together we can ensure that every patient receives the love, care, and dignity they deserve in their final days, while also supporting the needs of families and carers.  Thank you for standing with us during these challenging times.”

Dove House Hospice are hoping to raise £15,000 from this Summer Appeal, an amount which could cover the costs of running these services for the next year.

To read more of Christine & Frankie’s stories or to make a donation please visit: www.dovehouse.org.uk/summer appeal, or contact the fundraising team on: 01482 785 743 or by email at: fundraising@dovehouse.org.uk.