Lynda Day was diagnosed with cancer in October 2021. After spending a few weeks in hospital, a neighbour mentioned our Myton at Home service to Lynda and the family knew this was meant for them.
Gill said:
The Myton at Home nurses were absolutely incredible and made the last few weeks so comfortable for mum.
It was the simple things that meant so much, like having her hair washed and talking to her like a human and not a patient. It added a sense of normality which means so much at a time like this.
Myton means the world to us as without those ladies, we would’ve never got mum home to her own surroundings.
Not only did they care for mum, they showed compassion to us all as a family.
Once Lynda was home from hospital and receiving care from Myton at Home, the family created a ‘Bucket list’ which included a variety of last wishes for Lynda and the whole family.
Included in this was celebrating Christmas early. Lynda’s house was decorated head to toe in decorations from the minute she came home from hospital, and the family had Christmas Day on November 15th, celebrating with a KFC – Lynda’s personal favourite – and Gill’s husband dressing in an inflatable santa costume!
The family have celebrated Christmas on November 15th since.
Lynda also wanted to see the Christmas lights in their town which made for a beautiful winter evening and they finished with desserts and coffee.
They also had a family karaoke night, a favourite pastime of Lynda’s, though she wasn’t impressed with her grandchildren’s choice of music!
The family were also lucky enough to secure free tickets to an ABBA night, Lynda’s favourite band, but she was unfortunately too poorly to attend.
Gill continued:
We managed to make her last few weeks as happy as possible, doing all the things she loved with the people she loved.
We wouldn’t have been able to do this without Myton at Home allowing her to be in the comfort of her own home and we will be forever grateful to them for giving us these precious memories.
Myton at Home nurses visited Lynda twice a day for four weeks. Lynda was admitted to our Warwick Myton Hospice for her last 24 hours.
Teresa said:
Mum always said she didn’t want to die in a hospice, but it got to the point where the care at home became too much.
As soon as we got to the hospice, one of the doctors introduced herself as Rose which was our nan’s name, and a trainee nurse said his name was Jason which is our brother’s name.
It sparked something in mum.
They then changed her syringe driver so she was immediately comfortable and a robin landed on her window.
All these little things made mum feel at home.
We thought it would be like a morgue, but it’s the total opposite.
They couldn’t do enough for you. Not only did they care for mum, they made sure we were all okay.
Gill added:
It was during Covid times so there were some restrictions but that evening I couldn’t get my son to leave, no matter what I did.
The nurses allowed him to stay over that night as they knew how important it was for him.
Lynda died on 1st December 2021.
Whilst receiving care from Myton at Home, Lynda repeatedly felt guilty for using the service free of charge. However, Gill reassured her that their fundraising will pay back what they used.
Teresa said:
Mum was such a charitable person.
She would always be fundraising for something, whether it was through a garden sale, coffee mornings, or Halloween and Christmas decorations, we even had a summer fayre in our living room. There was hook a duck and everything!
She had breast cancer 13 years ago so did a lot of fundraising for Breast Cancer Awareness. She also loved Myton being from the area.
Gill entered the London Marathon ballot and kept everything crossed! In the meantime, she ran the Warwick Half Marathon in 2022, three months after her mum died and raised an amazing £345.
Gill added:
By some miracle I got a ballot place for the London Marathon, which I believe to be divine intervention.
I ran it back in April and raised £1,090.
As their local 10k run, both Gill and Teresa take part in Regency Run every year. It holds special memories as it’s the race Lynda always supported. They now run it for Myton and Teresa raised an incredible £377 at Regency Run 2022.
Teresa ran her first half marathon, The Great North Run, this year and raised £748. What an incredible accomplishment, especially as she ran on an injured knee!
Teresa said:
Mum wrote us all letters before she died. I’m the youngest sibling so she wrote mine last.
It finished mid-sentence saying “wouldn’t it be good if you ran Regency…”.
It was a sign for us to keep running and fundraising.”
Gill continued:
We both love running and as mum was always fundraising for charity it is nice to carry on her legacy and it’s great to give something back to Myton.
We feel proud to have raised a total of over £2,500 and we don’t intend on stopping!
We can’t thank Myton enough for making mum’s final weeks comfortable and for allowing us to make precious memories in the time we had left.
They are angels that walk this earth.
We want to say a huge thank you to Gill and Teresa for sharing their story and for all of their incredible fundraising efforts for Myton.
Our Myton at Home service is available in Rugby, Leamington Spa and Warwick for people in the last days and weeks of life. We have recently introduced self-referral to the service.
Find out more about Myton at Home here
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