Phil’s Story

Geri’s husband Phil was first diagnosed with prostatic adenocarcinoma in 2018.

Phil was first treated with radiotherapy five days a week for seven and a half weeks at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire.  This was successful for three years, but unfortunately his cancer came back, with a CT scan showing cancer in his left iliac bone in the pelvis.

Phil required further treatment with Enzalutamide, supressing the male hormone, testosterone, causing severe fatigue and low mood.

During this time Phil received regular phone calls from one of the nurses from the Wellbeing Team at The Myton Hospices.

Geri said:

She checked how we both were and told us about the many services the hospice offers.

Phil attended a workshop for Fatigue and Breathlessness at Rugby Myton Hospice to try to improve his control and understanding in his fatigue. The Wellbeing Team also arranged for Phil to attend a 6-week course of counselling at Warwick Myton Hospice with one of our counsellors, Guy.

Geri said:

Phil found these sessions very useful, he was not a person to open up about his problems but found he was able to do so with Guy and was given practical pathways to follow which helped him enormously.

I admitted to the Wellbeing Team that I was not coping well and she arranged a 6-week course of counselling for me. The counsellor, Lorraine, was such a good listener and we spoke about resilience.

Phil’s life expectancy was now three to six months and I did feel I had enough resilience to get on with things on my own, thanks to Lorraine.

Even prior to this Geri was no stranger to The Myton Hospices, as she used to be a pharmacist at Mellors Pharmacy in Warwick and would prepare and deliver medication for our patients.

In the following years, Geri’s son James volunteered during his summer holidays at Warwick Myton Hospice helping to serve food and set tables.

Phil’s health was deteriorating and in 2022 he had three spells in hospital. His life expectancy was now just three months as the aggressive cancer had spread throughout his body.

A CT scan in September showed cancer in multiple places, including his lung, liver, bone and bladder.

In November, a liver biopsy showed the cancer was too aggressive for further treatment, with his life expectancy now being three weeks.

Geri said:

Phil was desperate to be peaceful at home. This is when the excellent Myton at Home team gave us both such great support.

Reliable twice daily visits were incredibly helpful both physically with hygiene and wellbeing from Sharon, Leanne, Kerry and nurse Andy who was able to offer medical support, helping us decide if visits from district nurses or the GP were needed.

Psychologically, the teams’ visits were always uplifting, they tuned into Phil’s interest in rugby and treated us with great humanity.

This is so important in the end of life situation.”

Phil died on 22^nd November 2022.

Geri said:

I cannot express my thanks to them sufficiently and am so pleased to learn that the service is being extended to more visits per day.

It allows patients to be cared for in their own home environment, enabling a peaceful end of life and freeing hospital beds for patients who need active treatment.

Find out more about our Wellbeing services and Myton at Home here