Best friends for more than 30 years – now Michael and Paul are in the same hospice in Telford together

Michael Childs and Paul Enever have been best friends for decades, but their latest reunion has been bittersweet.

Michael said: "I was going out for a cigarette and he was just walking in and I said 'are you coming to see me?' and he said 'no, I am coming to stay,' and I almost fell to the floor."

60-year-old Michael, from Madeley in Telford, is currently being given end-of-life care at Severn Hospice in Apley.

The former milkman was stunned when a few weeks ago his best friend Paul also arrived at the site for palliative care.

The pair are more used to relaxing together on a canal boat or enjoying a trip away, but now find themselves both being cared for at the hospice – Michael with acute leukaemia, and Paul, who is 51, with lung cancer.

They are both urging people to support the hospice, whose staff Michael described as 'guardian angels'.

Michael and Paul first became close friends while living at Mayfield in Madeley.

Michael, who has two sons, said: "I moved in a couple of months after him. We met the first day and we have been friends ever since."

Paul, who worked as a courier running the Madeley Same Day Delivery business, later moved to live on a canal boat.

Talking about the pair's friendship, Paul's younger sister Suzie Glaze joked: "I like to describe it as the Last of the Summer Wine!"

Michael said: "He is a fantastic guy, he's been my best friend for 30 years.

"We used to go on the barges, the first one we didn't have a clue what we were doing in the middle of nowhere – we got to the locks and we didn't know about any of it."

He added: "Paul said to me the other day, 'are you going to come to my funeral?' so I said 'are you going to come to mine?'!"

Both Michael and Paul, along with Suzie, are urging people to support the hospice, speaking about the huge difference its staff and services have made to their families at the most difficult time.

Suzie said: "They have been amazing, not only with Paul but with the family as well, they have offered us so much emotional support.

"There is a lady here that does crafts and she has made me this lovely necklace with Paul's fingerprint in it, and she painted a picture of a boat for him to look at which is a really nice gesture because obviously he can't be in his anymore.

"The care staff are just amazing as well. They care and that's the point. When you're in hospital they are doing a job - this does not feel like a job, it feels like they personally care."

Michael has also been making jewellery with his own fingerprints in for his sister, with the help of the hospice's creative therapist, Amanda Tormey.

He has also set up his own fundraising page to urge people to support the hospice, which is facing a £1m funding shortfall this year.

Gesturing towards the ward staff Michael said: "They are fantastic - they are guardian angels, all of them."

Anyone who wishes to support Michael's fundraising can do so by visiting his JustGiving page.