Watch Katie’s story here: https://youtu.be/zlJXdg_prjU
This Hospice Care Week, the story of local patient Katie highlights the difference specialist hospice care can make and why community support is vital to ensuring that care is there for everyone who needs it.
Living with stage 4 breast cancer, Katie was referred to Isabel Hospice by her oncology team for help managing her pain. At the time, she had a very different idea of what hospice care was for, believing it was something she would only need much later in her illness.
When Katie first met Isabel Hospice Clinical Nurse Specialist, Janice, she was struggling with pain that was affecting her ability to work and even simple things, like brushing her daughter’s hair with both hands. “I didn’t think Isabel Hospice could do anything to help me, but when I left that appointment, I felt hope.”
Katie received care and advice to manage her symptoms, alongside emotional support that helped her regain confidence and continue living her life alongside her cancer diagnosis. She still works full time and describes Isabel Hospice as a place she knows she can turn to when she needs help.
“There’s never been a question in my mind that so long as Isabel Hospice exists, they will help me. I just need Isabel Hospice to continue to exist.”
Hospice support is not just for people in the final days of life. It can help people living with a life-limiting illness at different stages of their journey.
Across the UK, nearly one in three people who need end of life care miss out on the support they need.
At Isabel Hospice, more than 1,600 patients received care during 2025/26, with services provided in people’s homes, in the community and at the hospice. This care relies on the support of the local community, through donations, fundraising, volunteering and support for Isabel Hospice’s charity shops.
For Katie, that support has made a profound difference to her life. She now wants other people to understand that hospice care is there for them too.
“It’s there for anyone with a life-limiting condition. You don’t have to wait. I now know there’s an entire army of people who want to help me live well.”
This Hospice Care Week, Isabel Hospice is asking the local community, to help ensure hospice care continues to be there when people need it – for patients like Katie, and for the families, friends and neighbours who may need support in the future.
Watch Katie’s story here: https://youtu.be/zlJXdg_prjU
Don’t leave hospice care to chance.
Help ensure Isabel Hospice can continue to care for more people like Katie.
