'It's the crown jewel of Teesside': James and Marcelle's Story

“From day one, I was absolutely amazed at the care level, the treatment, the love, the friendship, from top to bottom the staff – unbelievable.”

For over 40 years, our staff have been providing expert care to patients, helping them live as well as possible for as long as possible. This care and compassion extends beyond our patients, and we’re here for families and loved ones too, which is something James will always be grateful for, following his wife Marcelle sadly passing away at the hospice:

“Marcelle had already interacted with the hospice because for four years prior to her coming in here, she came to a support group.

Marcelle absolutely loved it. She looked forward to it every week, she looked forward to meeting her friends who were all in some kind of similar situations, and they used to do arts and crafts and things like that.

So that’s how she got to know the hospice, that’s how she got to know some of the staff at the hospice, and that’s basically where she decided that this is the place she wanted to be.

Marcelle said she wanted to have her final days as husband and wife rather than carer and wife. I didn't particularly want her to come in here, I wanted to carry on at home, but it was her decision, and it was probably the right one on reflection.

I was amazed. From day one, I was absolutely amazed at the care level, the treatment, the love, the friendship, from top to bottom the staff – unbelievable.

During that period of time, we got time to go out to go for meals. Even though she wasn't well, I managed to get her in the car, go in a wheelchair and we went all over for meals.

But the hospice itself was just a lovely place to be, the environment was great and not only did they cater for Marcelle, they were catering for the family as well. So, if you wanted breakfast you could get it, if you wanted to stay the night you could do that, they’d put a bed up for you. I stayed here for the last 7 nights, and Marcelle’s brother stayed with us for 7 nights as well. Nothing was too much.

And it was the level of compassion that they didn’t just show Marcelle, but they showed to all the family as well, me especially. There was this level of understanding that you were going through something that wasn’t very pleasant, but they just seemed to go out of their way to cheer you up. The level of treatment was unbelievable. I’ve never seen so many care staff through a door in one day and then were offering all kinds of treatments –massage, reiki, head massage.

They allowed Marcelle to maintain her dignity while she was in here, so whatever the situation they made it easy and light and fun, even though maybe she was distressed by it slightly, but they made it ‘don’t worry about it, it’s all alright’.

Marcelle’s last request was that I raise as much as I could for the hospice. We’re hoping to get around £15,000 at the moment and then if we get other fundraisers going, we should top that. In a way it’s a bit of payback and it’s something Marcelle wanted us to do for the hospice, so she’s still bossing me about now!

Christmas is a time of people and sharing and caring and families, and unfortunately there will be people here over Christmas. It’s a time of giving and what better thing to give to than Teesside Hospice.

It’s here for everybody in Teesside, it’s the jewel in the crown of Teesside as far as end of life care goes and what they’re doing – I can’t even explain how good it is. The people of Teesside need to get behind this and support it, it’s a fantastic thing and if you lost it, it would be a big miss to a lot of people.

We’ve all experienced loss of loved ones, friends, family and, unfortunately, it’s a thing that’s going to happen continually, so we need to support this place. Unless you’ve been here and witnessed what you do and seen it for yourself, you’ll never get the full picture. But what I can tell you is we need to back it up, because it’s everything. And I know personally, I’ll be indebted for the rest of my life for what you did.”

To support Teesside Hospice in memory of your loved ones this Christmas, join our Light Up A Life campaign and make your dedication. Find out more at www.teessidehospice.org/events/light-up-a-life-2025/.