The Myton Hospices - People's Stories

Many people still associate hospice care with cancer patients. While The Myton Hospices does support people with cancer, we also provide our services to those with a variety of terminal and life limiting illnesses.

Guy Gibson was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease and has been attending Day Hospice sessions at Warwick Myton Hospice where he has been able to enjoy complementary therapy treatments, have his hair cut, and access support from our physiotherapy and psychology teams.

But for someone who had been active and travelled over five continents for work, Guy wanted something more to keep his mind occupied.

Knowing that the condition would ultimately impact his ability to talk, he was also keen to ensure his wife, daughter and son would have a recording of his voice they could listen to in the future.

Day Hospice staff enlisted the help of our Hospice Biographer, Sophie Heaviside, to help Guy record his life story.

Guy and Sophie have recorded his audio biography in four parts since first meeting in January. Normally the biography recording would involve one or two sessions, but Sophie very quickly saw a difference in Guy as he recalled his memories for his family to listen to. It became important to Sophie to help ensure he could complete his legacy and was happy with the content.

After talking about living by the coast with his wife, before their children were born, Sophie told Guy about our Virtual Reality headsets and how he could visit the beach again this way if he wanted to.

He enjoyed using the headset so much that the following week he asked where else he could travel to while in the comfort of his wheelchair!

Sophie said:

I have really enjoyed learning about Guy’s life and recording it for his family. He travelled extensively in his working life and has some incredible stories from his adventures around the world. On more than one occasion after recording we have shared stories with each other about visiting Africa – somewhere we have both travelled to and loved.

It is always a privilege to create such an amazing legacy for people at Myton, and there is always a twinkle in Guy’s eyes when he talks about the experiences he has had.

Myton is very excited to have four new Hospice Biographer volunteers now trained by the Hospice Biographers charity!

This will mean more people like Guy can record their life story; the benefits of this service are huge both for the patient in the present and for their family and friends in the future.