Family Stories - John & Sue Dixon
John Dixon has been campaigning for years to get a hospice built for Coventry. His personal crusade really began when his first wife Sue lost a long battle against cancer.
She was 28 when she was diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease and over the next two decades she tried to enjoy life as much as possible and spread some happiness whilst enduring treatments. Intensive therapy meant Sue spent 12 years in remission, during which time she helped set up the lymphoedema clinic at Walsgrave Hospital
But in June 1996 she was told the cancer had returned and she died in October the same year.
John says, “She was a truly remarkable woman. She used to get calls from doctors saying, ‘Can you have a word with so and so because they have just been diagnosed’ and she would contact them and have a chat and try to cheer them up. She really wanted to help.”
She spent her last weeks of life in Walsgrave Hospital and although John has no complaints about the care given to her there it never seemed the most appropriate place. The ward and staff were simply not set up to deal with the pain and trauma of this final passing. “They were very good to her and went out of their way to help her and make her comfortable but really Sue was in the wrong place” says John. “A hospital is there to make people well and we were not part of that. She was offered a place at Myton in Warwick but turned it down because she wanted to stay close to her family and friends and that was in Coventry. I have no doubt if there had been a hospice in Coventry, she would have gone there and been in a more appropriate environment. It simply highlighted for me that the need was there.”
In the days before Sue died, the couple discussed the possibility of setting up a hospice and John, who owns Computime in Earlsdon, decided he wouldn’t rest until that hope had become a reality. He knew it was something that Sue would have wanted and it would be in part, a tribute to her. He set up the Sue & John Dixon Charitable Trust and he worked hard behind the scenes, discussing ideas and urging action, even applying for a lottery grant and organising fundraising events to raise money.
He said, “It seemed ridiculous to me that a city the size of Coventry did not have a hospice facility and it got to the stage where I was pushing Coventry Health Authority, particularly after a report in 1997 identified the need for hospice beds in Coventry. The health authority was keen and so was Walsgrave Hospital. I’m just delighted that a solution has been found. Obviously Myton staff are the experts at running a hospice, so this is finally a proposal that should work. I know there were fears that if a hospice was developed in Coventry, Myton in Warwick might suffer so this is ideal because Myton will be running both and providing hospice care for the whole of Coventry and Warwickshire.”
John also backs the choosing of the Walsgrave site. He added, “I know some people feel a hospice should be somewhere isolated but I believe the best location is close to where the best treatment is. Sue needed a lot of clinical care during her illness and for people like her to have that expertise next door, is ideal. I can’t see a problem – there are plans for a separate entrance and for landscaping so the place will have its own identity but be able to reap the benefits of being close to the hospital.”
Although John has since remarried he is as committed as ever to realising the hospice dream. His new wife, Susan, is also completely behind him, knowing what he and Sue went through.
The money raised through the John & Sue Dixon Trust stands at about £40,000 and he has committed to using this for the Coventry Hospice Appeal. “Because we are a charitable trust we cannot give money to another charity so we would perhaps fund beds at the new hospice in Sue’s name. A lot of effort went into raising that money but as time went on, people were reluctant to give because they couldn’t see anything happening. Rest assured that cash will be used for the comfort of patients. It has been very frustrating over the years waiting for things to happen so to see this project get off the drawing board is fantastic. This will really be a tremendous development for the city and I’m just over the moon now that it is actually happening. I know the people of Coventry will support us all the way and come up with the goods.”