Margaret Lowndes was diagnosed with colon cancer in the year 2000, shortly after her daughter, Alison, had given birth to her second child.
Margaret started treatment and was responding well, with Alison and her children visiting every day. A year to the day after Margaret was diagnosed, her husband, Alan, was diagnosed with bladder cancer and started his treatment.
Alison commented on this time:
As a family, we had big plans to start businesses, but these diagnoses changed our perspective and what we wanted out of life. We started to literally live life every day. We sold our house in London, bought a flat in the city for my ex-husband so he could commute for work, and we moved to Spain.
Whilst in Spain, Alan’s health started to decline so in 2007 the family decided to come back to the UK. They settled in North Yorkshire however within 8 days of returning to UK, Alan sadly passed away.
Alison continued:
Dad’s death hit us really hard, but mum remained strong throughout. She had always been a strong woman, but after dad died, she dedicated her life to being with her family. We started a few businesses and mum helped out with the house and kids. They’d always had a strong bond, but this time really cemented their relationship.
Margaret, Alison and the children, Sophie and Harry, moved to Warwickshire to be surrounded by excellent schools and healthcare. Margaret had Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and during a routine check-up, they found a shadow on her lung.
She was immediately booked in for surgery and spent Christmas 2022 in hospital recovering. After she was given all clear in April 2023, Margaret, Alison and Sophie went on a girls trip to Spain, where Margaret admitted to finding a lump. Several tests later, it was confirmed the lump was cancerous.
Alison said:
Just before Christmas 2023, mum started to become really unwell and she was admitted to hospital for a second Christmas in a row. They couldn’t get her medication right so she was very unwell and uncomfortable a lot of the time. The tumour was underneath her right armpit and needed regular dressing by the District nursing team.
As the cancer progressed, mum’s tumour burst regularly, bleeding quite severely. Unfortunately after many emergency visits to hospital, it became obvious that mum was unable to return home as she needed more specialist and around the clock care. The hospital wanted to discharge her but I knew we needed another intervention.
Shipston Home Nursing cared for Margaret for a few months until her tumour burst once again and she had a catastrophic bleed. She was admitted back into hospital for a few days until they wanted to discharge her.
Again, Alison knew she needed further intervention so researched The Myton Hospices and how we could help. After some discussions with her GP and the district nursing team, Margaret got a bed at our Warwick Myton Hospice Inpatient Unit.
Alison commented:
Having a bed available at Myton was such a big relief. I’m not medically trained but was becoming her carer and ultimately, I knew we wouldn’t have long left with mum so I wanted to become her daughter again, and Myton gave me that.
Mum was a little frosty when we first arrived at Warwick Myton Hospice, as she always wanted to die at home, but as soon as we had the first chat with the doctors, it was obvious that they really cared.
Originally, we planned for a few weeks of pain management before mum could come home, but after a few days, we were told the likelihood of her staying at Myton was quite high. I was rather surprised by my reaction, I felt really relieved as I knew we were in the right place.
Margaret died on 7th May 2024 after three weeks at Myton. Alison continued:
Losing a parent is horrendous, but the care and support we received from Myton was incredible. Our experience was beautiful as well as sad, and seeing friends going through dreadful times with losing their loved ones makes me so grateful to have had Myton with us. I felt like we hit the gold medal and there was nowhere else I wanted mum to be.
The nursing staff are all angels, one even recognised mum from her time at hospital the year before! Everything felt natural and organic, and nothing was too much trouble. The family all came to see her, even our dog, Teddi who was her little companion. We had free run of everything which made us as comfortable as mum was.
We were given the keys to the relative’s accommodation, which we didn’t think we needed at first, but after entering the flat and having a few moments away to take a shower, we realised just how much the nursing and medical team had our best interests as well as Mum’s at heart, it meant more than we realised.
Every family deserves the chance for their loved ones to be supported in a peaceful and calm environment like Myton, dying with dignity and control. During a very emotional time, they took over, wrapped their arms around us and supported us till the very end.
You can have all the money in the world but Myton’s support is priceless and should be available to anyone who needs it, and we will continue to support them so other families can have what mum had.
Thank you Warwick Myton Hospice for taking care of Mum – you are amazing and we will be forever thankful to you and your incredible team of Doctors, Nurses, Support staff and Volunteers.
By supporting Myton this Christmas, you will help us provide vital care for more people, like Margaret, Alison and their family, living with a life-limiting illness across Coventry and Warwickshire.
Each year, we need to raise over £11 million to continue providing our services free of charge to patients and their families - your support will ensure we can be there when they need us most, now and in the future.
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