Anonymous
Letter from a cancer patient
For the last two months, the Scottish Review has been campaigning in support of St Margaret of Scotland Hospice, whose ethos is threatened by the policy of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Tomorrow, the Scottish Parliament will debate this question. We have received the following unsolicited testimony from a cancer patient. He does not live in the area served by St Margaret of Scotland Hospice, but feels deeply about the issue from a personal perspective. He does not wish his family to be upset by what he has to say, so his contribution is published anonymously.
How many times have you used or heard the phrase 'You never know what's round the corner'?
I managed to live a very uneventful 40 years health-wise, until the discovery of my cancer in 2004. I went to bed one night and woke up in a scanner in the local hospital the following morning. Since then I have fought my way through a very dangerous operation, my radiotherapy, and four years later the chemotherapy needed to attack the cancer as it started to grow again.
I have been helped along this journey by my wife, our families and friends, numerous experts at the Southern General, the Beatson (old and new) and numerous Macmillan nurses all based in local hospices, to name but a few.
At this moment I don't need full-time support from a hospice but the fact that I know the help is there whenever I need it is one of the plus points in my life right now. Whether that is contacting the hospice for some advice or meeting the Macmillan nurse at the hospice or just having a chat with someone that understands, the hospice delivers time after time.
The future is unknown as far as my cancer goes. That it will continue to grow is definite but when and where it will do so, no one knows.
I will require to stay in a hospice at some point whether it is for respite care or end of life care. My hope is that when people like me require the help and the dignity that hospices provide it will still be delivered to the people of Scotland by the hospice movement and not by companies whose profit and loss account is the first and last reason for getting up in the morning.
We live in times when people know the cost of everything but the value of nothing.
The name of the game being making a profit at all costs, no matter what you have to cut or who you have to hurt along the way.
The actions of Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board show a total disregard for the St Margaret of Scotland Hospice in Clydebank and are a blatant attack on the hospice movement in Scotland as a whole. They show that they 'just don’t get it' when it comes to the principles of the hospice movement.
For those of you who, like me up until six years ago, think the subject of hospices, their funding and whether they survive or not has nothing to do with you, please remember: you never know what's round the corner. |
