“Hello, my name is Roxanne. My husband Ollie had been through a rough journey with his cancer. When they said it was probably time to go and meet the hospice team we were terrified, expecting a dark building full of sad people. But when we actually visited Isabel for the first time… we realised we couldn’t have been more wrong! Isabel is such a warm, cheerful, friendly place. And the staff are so knowledgeable, they took away all of our fears.

And they were so welcoming to us and our three children. Lila was 11, Max 9 and little Skye 4 at the time (this was in February this year). The nurses made special arrangements for Ollie to be in one of their larger family rooms. We all basically moved in. We could visit whenever we liked, for as long as we liked and the older kids could stay with Ollie by themselves. I had a bed pushed right next to his, the girls had blow-up beds (and Max loved sleeping in the reclining chair!)

We watched Saturday Night Takeaway together, we had film nights when Joan the chef made popcorn for the kids. Isabel really did become a family home for those precious six weeks.

And the care they gave to Ollie was just incredible. They’d listen carefully to him about the different types of pain he was having – and give him what he needed to be comfortable, to help him live every day in the best possible way. No matter what happened, the nurses always had a plan, something else they would try to make him feel even a little bit better.

Then there came the day when Ollie came home. He’d decided he wanted to spend his last days here with us. Isabel’s Hospice at Home team worked so hard in really difficult circumstances (lockdown had started by then) to get us all home – so Ollie could be there for Skye and Lila’s birthdays.

Kirsty, who I know has written to you today, was part of Ollie’s Hospice at Home team. Every day they would come, get changed into their protective clothing, and then go and care for Ollie, masks and all. They were beyond amazing – they really did go above and beyond. Ollie so appreciated everything they did for him. Near the end, he said to me: “I really hope they get back what they deserve, Roxy, because they’ve just been bloody brilliant!”.

Ollie died at home a few weeks later. Looking back, my comfort is knowing Isabel gave him the best end of life journey any of us could have hoped for. We’ll always have the six weeks Isabel gave us at the hospice (the kids still ask if we can go back) and then our last six weeks together at home.

We have lots of family living close by us and so we’re lucky that me and the kids have had a lot of support since he died. But we haven’t had that opportunity to all meet up, his parents and siblings and mine (there’s a lot of us!). Lights of Love this year is when we can all meet up (as best we can, we might have to meet ‘virtually’) and take part in Lights of Love this year. It’s going to be a moment for me to stop and think about my husband, for the kids to think about their Dad. We’ll be sending in our decorations and we’ll have ones on our tree too.

Kirsty and the rest of the Isabel team have been unbelievable in how they’ve kept going this year. As Ollie said, they’ve been bloody brilliant. I hope we can all take part in Lights of Love this year – and give them the support they deserve.”