Hospice Care Week: 'I know first-hand how important their work is'

And he has shared their story of care in the hands of Severn Hospice to support this week’s Hospice Care Week. “It’s never been more important to support the hospice and I will do what I can for as long as I can – and I hope others will be moved to help too,” said Alan, from St Georges, Telford.

Ann died in 2015, one week before the couple’s 48th wedding anniversary and her ashes were interred on what would have been her 70th birthday.

After being diagnosed with terminal bone cancer in 2013, she was subsequently cared for by the hospice’s day services, at home and as an inpatient at the Telford hospice.

And while many people may think that any link with a hospice ends once a loved one has died, Alan is proof this is not the case.

He makes regular donations which have been used to pay towards recliner chairs and tablets for the hospice at home team so they can keep in touch while they are visiting patients out in the community.

“When I can I give regularly to hospice, and believe that the growing hospice at home service is a wonderful way of extending the care that can be given to individuals and their families which are not otherwise available, and is one that we should all support,” said 75-year-old Alan.

He has also recently trained as a bereavement volunteer for a national charity, having benefited from several sessions with the hospice’s own therapist.

“I first saw the therapist a few weeks before Ann died and then for a few weeks afterwards. If it hadn’t been for her and for the therapist who I have continued to see privately, I’m not too sure how I would be.

“That is what started me thinking about becoming a bereavement volunteer. They have given me a new life. That may sound strange, but I believe that you need to accept that your life will be new after your loved one dies,” said Alan.

“My life now includes a range of new things, but most importantly it positively embraces the legacy of my life with Ann.”

Becky Richardson, Severn Hospice’s director of care said: “Alan is a wonderful supporter of ours and I can’t thank him enough.

“While we can’t prevent anyone going through what he, Ann and the rest of their family experienced, we were proud to be there alongside them to support them all.

"There is so much that goes into the professional care services we are able to provide but it takes the support of the community fundraising for us to make that happen.”

Severn Hospice gives specialist care and support free of charge to families across Shropshire and north Powys who are living with an incurable illness.

To find out more about Severn Hospice go to www.severnhospice.org.uk