Martyn shares his experience of our HOME care and wellbeing support

Martyn Lamb, from Thirsk, has been accessing our Wellbeing Network Drop-In at Thirsk, after losing his wife to cancer. Our Herriot HOME team cared for Martyn’s wife, Angela, granting her wish to be cared for at home…

“My much-loved wife, and mother to our children, Angela, was diagnosed with brain cancer in May 2022, and died in September 2022, just 5 days after her 50^th birthday.

“When my wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer, her wish was to be cared for at home, and I am so thankful for all the Herriot HOME team carers who helped me and my family when our lives got turned upside down, and helped keep my wife at home, with myself and our three children.

“Before the Herriot HOME team stepped in, I was struggling – I was caring for my wife 24hours a day, 7 days a week, and I wasn’t getting any rest or sleep.

“I can’t fault the care our family received from the Herriot HOME team, who worked with the upmost dignity and respect, and who would have a chit chat with her to make her laugh.

“The Herriot HOME team made such a positive difference through a really horrible time.”

“I saw information about the drop-in on Facebook and I must say, at that point it didn’t really seem like my thing, but I’m so glad I walked through that door. My worry was around speaking with a big group of people when my loss was so raw, but we’re all on first-name terms and the session is really relaxed.

“I’ve been attending this drop-in for three months now, since Angie died. A house which had been busy with Herriot HOME team carers became very quiet. I wanted to go out and thank the people who had helped us so much.

“The drop-in means I get out of the house and speak with people at a time which I’m trying to get through. It’s nice to talk – sometimes we talk about our experiences of terminal illness, and sometimes about other subjects. We relate to each other with our experiences of terminal illness, and we’ve even been showing each other happy pictures of our loved ones when they were well. When I talk about losing my wife, it’s then not just washing around in my head.

“Tracy who runs the session, is always on hand if anyone needs her support. I had a wobble and had a one-to-one chat with Tracy to get some advice, as I know others do.

The drop-in is a truly amazing thing for Herriot Hospice Homecare to be doing!”

Our HOME service offers practical, social and emotional support to help you live at home with confidence, independence and dignity, as well as personalised, compassionate care at home at the end of life. To find out more, visit https://www.herriothh.org.uk/how-we-help/living-with-terminal-illness/care-and-support-at-home/.

Conversation over a cuppa can be a powerful form of support, and our Wellbeing Network offers a weekly drop-in at Thirsk and Sowerby Town Hall for just this. To find out more, visit https://www.herriothh.org.uk/how-we-help/living-with-terminal-illness/wellbeing-network/.

And if you would like to share your story with us to help us illustrate the difference that our care makes, we’d love to hear from you and would be so grateful. Please email admin@herriothh.org.uk.