Meet Emily..

Emily Wadlow’s first experience of Dougie Mac was back in 2018 when her beloved mum, Kathryn, was a patient at the hospice.

Mum-of-three Kathryn – who was married to Malcolm for 34 years – was known to family and friends as Kate. She was an avid gardener and could always be found outside in the sunshine along with a trail of empty cups of tea, usually found on a fence post somewhere.

But then, in 2014, Kate and her family’s lives changed forever, when she was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. She underwent a lumpectomy to remove the tumour, followed by a full mastectomy and lymph node removal on her left side. She had a course of gruelling chemotherapy and then radiotherapy.

Emily, who has two older sisters, Heather and Sophie, said: “Mum seemed to be recovering well and had breast reconstruction surgery about a year later. She began to feel a lump again on her left side and was assured it was scar tissue but after many appointments and a lot of pushing for a biopsy we eventually found out this was not the case and her cancer had returned.

“She suffered with lymphedema in her left arm to the extent that she was unable to use it. The cancer had metastasized and was now located in her adrenal glands, lungs and in her neck in addition to the tissue behind her reconstruction site.

“She was given 6-12 months. I was 15 and still at school, and mum fought for a further two years trying every avenue including dietary changes, heat and oxygen therapy and we even had a JustGiving fundraiser to send her for treatment abroad. Once again, our hopes had been brought up again as she seemed to improve in overall health and mobility and her lymphedema had improved significantly and she regained the use of her arm.”

Sadly, just a month after Kate had her final session abroad, she suffered a huge seizure and again lost the use of her arm. A CT scan showed there were multiple tumours on Kate’s brain and she was sent for an MRI which showed images of eight brain tumours. Kate was given just 6-12 weeks to live.

Emily said: “Christmas Day 2018 was when a bed came available at the Douglas Macmillan Hospice. After a morning filled with all manner of emotions, mum was picked up and settled in at Dougie Mac. The first few days felt scary and almost quite final as it was such an enormous thing to have to finally admit that we needed the help and we didn’t have the facilities to cope anymore at home.

“The team at Dougie Mac were so receptive to this and are some of the kindest people I have met. This was such a relief for us, knowing that our lovely mum was in such caring hands.

“As a family, we have typically celebrated Christmas on a rough date between Christmas and New Year that suits everyone with my sisters having left home and all of us having other commitments with in-laws etc. Dougie Mac were fantastic in helping us to cater for this!

“We managed to cobble together a proper family Christmas dinner and bring it to the hospice and we wheeled mum’s bed into their living room where we could all enjoy what would be our last family Christmas dinner with mum. Even our lovely dog Boots was there.

“From then, we had daily visits between us up until she sadly passed away on January 21, 2019. She was just 59. We were given our privacy and received help in dealing with the necessary procedures following a death. I feel like every aspect of help and care we received as a family was handled with the utmost respect and kindness, and for this we will always be eternally grateful.”

As a result, Emily and her family have since raised money to try to give back where they can. While Emily was at school at The Cheadle Academy, she had a teacher who was also given palliative care at the hospice.

Emily said: “We set up a choir at school and used to tour round local supermarkets and local Christmas light displays and sing while shaking our money buckets. Over approximately three years, the school raised more than £32,000 for Dougie Mac in memory of my mum and our teacher and I now send a monthly donation to the hospice.”

Last November, Emily started running and together with her partner, signed up to take part in the Carsington half marathon at Easter this year. They raised an incredible £1,146 for the hospice.

Emily said: “I am so thankful to everybody who donated and left me lovely, encouraging messages to keep me going on the day. It was so heartwarming to feel the care from everybody and still keep my mum’s memory alive. She was such a fantastic woman, who was the best wife and mum any family would dream of having.”