Hats of Joy

Joy’s first visit to Longfield Hospice’s Wellbeing Centre almost didn’t happen – she asked her husband to turn around and drive home. “I pictured rows of people in hospital beds,” she said. “It took courage to walk through your doors but thank goodness I did.”

Like many people, Joy thought Longfield admitted seriously ill patients for hospice care. But that’s not the case – in fact, we don’t even have an inpatient unit.

Our expert end of life care is delivered by nurses and carers in the comfort of people’s homes. Our Wellbeing Centre in Minchinhampton is an airy and calm retreat surrounded by nature. It’s a place where people come to get their lives back on track after a diagnosis or bereavement has changed everything – a ‘healing space’ is how Joy describes it.

Joy came to us feeling lost. After a breast cancer diagnosis, she had given up a job she loved to focus on her treatment. “I felt like a boat without a rudder. Life was just one medical appointment after another.”

Weekly sessions at our Wellbeing Centre gave Joy something positive to focus on. “I started with some heavenly complementary therapies! Then I had counselling and I took your creative writing course which was a revelation – I loved every minute of it.” Joy welcomes the sense of community at Longfield. “You don’t have to explain anything to anybody. If you’re having a bad day, people get it,” she says. “That sense of solidarity and willingness to support each other has been a lifeline.”

Retaining her identity was important to Joy as she went through chemotherapy. “Losing my hair changed the way I felt about myself and the way others perceived me,” she says.

Two of Joy’s adult children, Morwenna and Rob, came up with an ingenious idea: to create a silk under-hat with Joy’s real hair woven into it which could be worn beneath any hat she chose. Morwenna made the prototype. “My oncologist couldn’t believe it when I took off my hat and he saw my bald head – he almost fell off his chair!”

To find out more about our wellbeing sessions visit our wellbeing page or call us on 01453 733706