Marie Curie - Northern Ireland

This Volunteers Week we're celebrating our wonderful volunteers who support people with a terminal illness and their families.
Meet Jonathan Isherwood :) Jonathan is a Helper Volunteer in Enniskillen and has been with Marie Curie for four years.
“I started volunteering with Marie Curie to help give dignity to those who are leaving us. The gratitude you receive from the families makes this role worthwhile.”

This Volunteers Week we're celebrating our wonderful volunteers who help support people with a terminal illness and their families.
Meet Bried Lynch :) Bried is a helper volunteer in Portstewart and has been with Marie Curie for 2 years.
“I started volunteering with Marie Curie as they are an organisation who embrace you from introduction and support you through training, giving you the confidence to be a compassionate volunteer, enhancing the individual capabilities we all bring with us to the role. The appreciation from the clients and their families about how our service has helped them is great. Also the support and encouragement we receive from the office is fantastic."

This Volunteers Week we're celebrating our wonderful volunteers who help support people with a terminal illness and their families.
Meet Annette Beaney :) Annette is a volunteer flower arranger and also volunteers on the ward, giving out refreshments. Annette has been with Marie Curie an outstanding 29 years!
“I started volunteering with Marie Curie as I had family members that had been cared for in the hospice. The care was brilliant and knew that I wanted to give back. What I enjoy most about my role is being able to help others and brighten up their day. Being responsible for the flowers makes it easy to start a conversation with the patient and their families."

This Volunteers Week we're celebrating our wonderful volunteers who help support people with a terminal illness and their families.
Meet John Gourley :) John is a Bereavement Support Volunteer and has been with Marie Curie for 19 years, doing a variety of roles.
“I chose to volunteer after the death of a close family member who had been helped by the Marie Curie Nursing Service. What I enjoy most about my role is helping people at a difficult time in their lives, coming to terms with the loss of a loved one and hopefully make a difference to the way that they deal with grief."

This Volunteers Week we're celebrating our wonderful volunteers who help support people with a terminal illness and their families.
Meet Elma McDevitt :) Elma volunteers at our day hospice in Newtownards and has been volunteering with Marie Curie for 14 years.
“I started volunteering through my mother-in-law who collected for Marie Curie - she asked me to bring in some donations that she had collected. Whilst I was visiting, I noticed a leaflet for volunteers and jumped at the chance to help. What I enjoy most about my role is meeting the patients, chats, jokes and helping others.”

This Spring generous Tesco customers in Northern Ireland donated almost £50,000 to Marie Curie over the course of just two days, supporting the Great Daffodil Appeal!
More than 380 volunteers took to 32 Tesco stores across Northern Ireland and we want to say a massive THANK YOU :)
Conor O’Kane, Marie Curie Senior Partnerships Manager said: “We are blown away by the generosity of the public in Northern Ireland – raising nearly £50K in two days is astounding. Thanks to Tesco’s ...support and every single person who donated in return for a daffodil pin, we can support people with terminal illnesses and their families across the region.”
#Thankyou
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This Volunteers Week we're celebrating our wonderful volunteers who help support people with a terminal illness and their families.
Meet Peter Gilbert :) Peter has been a volunteer at Marie Curie for six years in many roles - on reception at the Belfast Hospice, helping to serve tea and coffee on the ward and in the facilities team.
“I started volunteering after a first-hand experience of the exceptional care a loved one received during their final days at the hospice. What I enjoy most is meeting and supporting families who are in the in-patient unit. Playing a small volunteer role at Marie Curie, a charity which I believe makes a real difference to people, is very satisfying.”

It's been an amazing three days of Q Radiothon 2019 raising vital funds for four local charities. The generosity of the NI public has been incredible! 👏
Special thank you to our brave families for sharing their very personal stories 💜
Marie Curie - Northern Ireland Action Cancer Cancer Fund for Children Friends of the Cancer Centre and goQradio are so thankful! ✨
... #TogetherWeCan 💛
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Julie Scates was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2014. She passed away two months ago at the Marie Curie Hospice, Belfast at the age of 39. Her partner Steve said the hospice was like a 'home away from home':
"To me, the hospice is like a home away from home. Julie spent her last three months there, passing away on 30th March this year. The nurses were unbelievable, the doctors fantastic. We got to spend really good quality time with Julie there and can honestly say we had s...ome really fun times there – all the family would come to visit. Her three children and I would often stay over. They made us feel so welcome and they couldn’t do enough for us.
“It’s been hard since Julie passed away, it’s trying to rebuild some sort of life. Typical of Julies character, she had made all the arrangements for her funeral, down to the music and readings and she also said she wanted her ashes scattered in Capri, where we spent our last holiday together – so I’ll be travelling there soon to do that. I’m hugely thankful for all that Marie Curie did for the whole family – the nurses became friends and I will support the charity that supported us in a difficult time in any way I can."
Steve shared their heartbreaking story as part of Q Radiothon. By supporting Q Radiothon you can make a real difference to the lives of people, like Julie and Steve, across Northern Ireland. You can support Q Radiothon by -
📞 Call 0800 441 44 44 and if you make a donation, we will give you a shout out on Q Radio
📱 Text FIVE, TEN or TWENTY to 70144 to donate £5, £10 or £20 (*Texts will cost your donation amount and standard network charge. Our 4 charities will receive 100% of your donation. Please obtain bill payers permission first)
💻 Online at qradiothon.com/donate
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‘It was 2017 and life was great. We had attended the wedding of my daughter, Angela and her lovely partner Tom the year before and she was expecting her first baby.
‘I’ll never forget when we got the devastating news – we had all been in Italy for a family holiday and Angela and Tom flew back before us, that’s when we got the call – Angela had two seizures and was in hospital. After numerous tests, Angela was diagnosed with a grade 4 brain tumour and was told she would have f...rom six months to two years to live.
‘My girl was so brave, we were so proud of her. She chose to have two operations on one day – a cesarean to deliver her 30-week-old baby, followed by major surgery to remove as much of the tumour as possible. Angela had a beautiful baby girl, Ella.
‘We now realised that Angela would not be coming home, but from the point she entered the Marie Curie Hospice in Belfast she was given the tender, loving, expert care she needed. Importantly, Tom was able to stay with her, as was Ella. They could be a family. Her one fear was that she would wake up alone, and thanks to the hospice, that never happened. Marie Curie became our second home.
‘On 28th June 2018, ten days after her 39th birthday, our beautiful daughter, left us too soon. This is our heart-breaking story and it highlights the importance of the care provided by Marie Curie - Northern Ireland.’
Wendy shared her heartbreaking story tonight at the Marie Curie Belfast Brain Game which raises money for Marie Curie - Northern Ireland Addressing 276 guests she thanked Marie Curie for their support during this difficult time.
Thank you Wendy
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One of our wonderful nurses, Siobhan Johnston, explains how far the £96,000 raised from last year's Q Radiothon goes to support people with a terminal illness and their families.
Thanks to all the goQradio listeners for their support!
Tune in tomorrow from 6am to be part of Q Radiothon 2019 💜

We're getting very excited as it's just one week to go until Q Radiothon!
There's lots going on in the lead up, including Break the Rules Day tomorrow at schools across NI!
Over the three day broadcast next week we'll hear inspirational and heartbreaking stories from people in Northern Ireland who have been supported by our four amazing charities.
... Make sure you tune in to goQradio :)
To find out more and how you can get involved visit www.qradiothon.com
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Today we had the pleasure of DJ Ryan A from goQradio visiting the hospice in Belfast 😊
Ryan spent the day chatting with patients, staff and volunteers ahead of @QRadiothon which will take place next Thursday 30th May to Saturday 1st June 🌾
To find out more and hear how you can get involved and support Q Radiothon visit www.qradiothon.com

This week we celebrated the marriage of a very special couple at the Belfast hospice! Jill, a patient at the hospice, said ‘I do’ to her partner, John, after 23 wonderful years together.
Jill said, “John asked me to marry him 10 days before the ceremony actually took place and he was so excited when I said yes. It just seemed like the right time. It was a lovely day, the sun was shining and it was nice and still and peaceful.”
John added, “I’d been asking Jill to be my wife ...for 23 years and it finally happened this week. It was a great day and everyone at the hospice really worked hard to make it all come together.”
Congratulations to the newlyweds! 😊
Big thanks to Tracey, our social work student who played a key part in pulling it all together, Jackie who arranged the beautiful flowers and our receptionist Ros for getting Jill’s stunning dress. Also a massive thank you to the Stormont Hotel who provided a fabulous afternoon tea and Next, who ensured Jill’s beautiful dress arrived at such short notice.
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Massive thank you to employees from Citi who volunteered at the Belfast hospice today, sprucing up the gardens 🌾⚘🌻 We really appreciate your support and hard work!

Meet Helen Laird, Wendy Stevenson and Helen Boal, who are part of our Bereavement Support Team :)
This Dying Matters Awareness Week and we’re encouraging people to talk more openly about death, dying and bereavement. We all need additional emotional support at difficult and challenging times – whether that's talking through your feelings with experienced staff, planning ahead or making the most of the time you have left.
At the Marie Curie hospice in Belfast, our Patient & F...amily Support Team is there for the whole family circle - loved ones and carers, as well as the person with the illness. If you're living with a terminal illness, or supporting someone else, we're here to support you.
Our bereavement support workers can help family members as their loved ones are dying and afterwards. They will support you in the way that's right for you, whether that's through one-to-one meetings, remembrance and celebration events or bereavement groups.
For more information please visit www.mariecurie.org.uk/help/hospice-care/b elfast or call Helen Boal on 02890 882000.
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Today is International Nurses Day and we want to celebrate our wonderful nurses who make such a big difference to the lives of terminally ill people and their families.
Ruth Keys has been a registered nurse at Marie Curie for an amazing 30 years!
“As I reflect on the last 30 years, I have seen many changes within our service which all benefit our patients and staff. From nursing only patients with terminal cancer, we now provide care and support for patients with any termin...al illness and their families. This has been a major enhancement to our service and has provided so many benefits to more families caring for their loved ones at home.
“Working with Marie Curie has really lived up to my expectations and although the world around me has changed over the years, my goal as a nurse hasn’t changed – it’s the patients’ needs that matter and I always prioritise them."
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Thank you to SPAR NI for visiting us today and bringing treats to help celebrate Sunday's #NursesDay!