Stuart shares his story as part of Hospice Care Week 2025

We’re proud to support #HospiceCareWeek from 6-12 October, showing all the ways hospices do #MoreThanYouThink.

They deliver care on the wards and in the community, keep people out of hospital who do not need to be there, and care for people in the place they love most: their own home. And with the right support, they could do even more.

That’s why we’re celebrating all the things that hospices do to make people’s lives better, to help raise awareness that these services should be properly funded.

Stuart's Strathcarron Story 

“I never thought I would need Strathcarron, even though I’ve lived in this area all my life. Like many people, I thought the Hospice was simply a place you went at the very end of life…and once you went in, you didn’t come out again.

I was wrong.

Strathcarron has given me something I didn’t think I’d have again: hope, dignity, and precious time with the people I love.

Last year, I was admitted to the Hospice at one of the lowest points in my life.

My family and I truly believed I would not live to see Christmas.

I have terminal lung cancer, caused by years of working with asbestos as an electrician. When I arrived, I couldn’t even walk. I felt broken, frightened, and like my time was almost up.

Then I met the team at Strathcarron.

The doctors looked at my medication, ripped it all up and started again from scratch. Their knowledge is incredible. Everyone treated me with such compassion and respect that I felt like a person again, not just a patient. And their rehabilitation team cheered me on every step of the way, quite literally.

The doctors looked at my medication, ripped it all up and started again from scratch. Their knowledge is incredible. Everyone treated me with such compassion and respect that I felt like a person again, not just a patient. And their rehabilitation team cheered me on every step of the way, quite literally. 

Once I was able to get back home, the rehabilitation team continued to support me. Week after week, little by little, my confidence and strength returned, so that I could eventually walk on my own two feet. What a moment!

And the care hasn’t stopped. At home, Strathcarron’s Clinical Nurse Specialists continue to visit me whenever I need them, and my wife has had the comfort of talking with their Patient and Family Support team. Strathcarron isn’t just caring for me, they’re caring for my whole family.

Thanks to this remarkable place, I’m living my life well in the time I have left. Not just existing.”

Thank you to Stuart for sharing his story as part of Hospice Care Week | Hospice UK 

Hospice care is more than you think.

On the wards, in the community, and in people’s homes, hospices support people to live their lives until the end of their life. Day in, day out. But Hospice services are in demand and underfunded, like never before.

You can help Strathcarron Hospice today by writing to your MP. Let them know how vital Hospice care is to your local communities.

Write to your MP today to let them know hospice care is much more than you think

Published 6 October 2025