A light in a very dark tunnel: Jayne and her family’s story
In 2024, Jayne’s husband Ste came into Halton Haven Hospice for end of life care, after being diagnosed with bowel cancer nine weeks previously.
Jayne shares “Ste was a family man, we went to school together in Runcorn since we were 13, everyone knew Ste and he knew everyone. He was really friendly, outgoing and obsessed with Liverpool football club. Even though he was in a wheelchair for 17 years, it actually never stopped him from doing anything. Ste grew all our fruit and veg at home on our farm, his life was doing the gardens and growing stuff for the family. Family, friends, and sport were most important to him. Then this came out of the blue.
We wanted to keep him at home, but he was far too poorly. So he bravely made the decision to come into the Hospice. We went from on our knees caring for him 24/7, to ‘Right this is our job to care for Ste now, you go back to being his wife and his family’ which was absolutely brilliant. We knew a couple of the carers at the Hospice and they looked after us and looked after Ste.”
He was treated like a king.
“When we got to the Hospice they said to us ‘have you got any pictures you want to put up?, how would you like the room to look?, do you want to bring any pillows ? – we were like rabbits in headlights – you think it’s a hospital but they asked for 10 minutes to settle Ste in. When we came back the room was decorated with pictures and everything we had brought in. It was just like ‘wow’ how did they know he wanted that, it was just amazing. It put us at ease.
We’d have Stes’ favourite music playing and we’d have a laugh, we’d do McDonalds orders, and one night friends visited and we had a party on the front garden, it’s such an open place. One of our granddaughters was only three at the time and we thought it wasn’t really fair for her to see him when he was really poorly so they said let her go round the back and she can sing to him through the window and she did. Halton Haven Hospice took the element of being carers away and enabled us to be his wife, daughters, his son just for that week.”
The Hospice truly is a light in a very dark tunnel. You never think and never hope that you need a hospice, but if there is a time that you do, this is the place you’ll want your loved one or yourself to be.
Family and friends now fundraise in memory of Ste
We will never be able to thank The Haven and Staff enough for the time we spent with them, but by raising money we would like to think we are helping this wonderful place to continue, so that another family just like ours gets some comfort during the most difficult time of their lives. We are forever grateful.
Since starting, Stes’ family and friends have been fundraising in many ways from collecting contributions at Stes’ funeral, getting involved at our events, to getting local school children involved in brightening up the Hospice. “My daughter is a teacher, so we arranged a trip to the Hospice with the whole gardening club. They planted daffodils all around the garden last October.”
Running and other physical challenges have played a big role in their fundraising. “I do a lot of runs like the Great North Run and I am also doing the Vietnam to Cambodia challenge in 2026. My two sons in law and my friends husband did the London marathon. Our friend Mark did Land’s End to John O’Groats and we have done the Christmas Elf Run too.
39 of us went to London to support everyone doing the London Marathon and we had a nice weekend. My sons in law were proud as punch that they had done the London Marathon and the money raised was amazing, but it was also really fitting as it was the weekend Liverpool won the league. Ste would have loved that weekend. One of the lads who came down to London actually got the train straight back to Liverpool to celebrate. I found that a good memory as I will tell you now, it doesn’t matter who had been running the marathon, if Liverpool was about to win the league Ste would be looking down at London but then gone straight back to Liverpool.”
Thank you so much to Jayne for sharing her story, as well as to all Stes’ family and friends for the support they have given Halton Haven Hospice in memory of Ste. You can find their JustGiving page by clicking HERE.
