Austin, Immie and Cheri's story

Austin, aged 17 and Immie, 24, are taking part in Hospice Run this year in memory of their dad, Gerard, who died under the care of Hospice in the Weald in 2013. Here, along with their mum, Cheri, they share their favourite memories of their dad, explain the importance of hospice care, and outline their hopes for this year’s event… 

Our precious memories 

“Whenever he jumped into the pool at my Gran’s house, he always held his nose and we’d try to make the biggest splash, but he always won! I still loved it,” says Austin. “Also, when he used to put us to bed, he’d give us Eskimo kisses and we’d say, ‘nosy nosy’, which could have been because he had a big nose… I’ve got no idea but it’s a fond memory.” 

Immie shares: “He always held my hand in church, he taught me how to play the piano and we sang in a choir together, which inspired and encouraged my love of music. Also, he took me to Northampton Saints rugby games, and Keble College, which inspired me to go there as well.  

“Every Friday, when he came back from London, he gave all of us stickers for our sticker books.

“He nicknamed us Imsie pops, Austie pops and Mimi (my sister, who would’ve joined us at Hospice Run this year had she not been living in Australia). During a holiday, I will always remember how we went exploring old buildings together, too.”  

“He was a loving dad and husband, a really good man – fun, lots of energy and drive but he also took education and work seriously,” Cheri adds. “He loved to have nice things planned for the whole family. He never gave up his fight despite being given a one-to-two-year life expectancy after diagnosis.  

“He in fact only lived for nine months but only gave up the fight the last 10 days – he was a fighter. During his last few weeks, he wrote two letters for each of his children. One to be read when appropriate after his death, and another coming of age. We cherish these. 

“He also spoke to the children in a stoic manner which inspired the children to not be held back or feel any blame for his death as his illness was just one of those things.”

“I and the district nurses cared for him at home and the stoma nurse helped us try and carry on day-to-day life. Our extended family and close friends were fantastic helping keep three under 13s (at the time of his death they were 6,10,13) life as normal as possible. 

“The Hospice was fantastic for the last 10 days of his life.”

Cheri says: “The Hospice was very good when the time came for him to go in and very welcoming even though he knew he was going there to die. The care given by the Hospice staff was very professional and respectful.  

“The Hospice always felt very warm and clean, there were no restrictions on when we could all visit and a simple thing like not having to pay to parking made the numerous daily visits easier.” 

“I knew Immie wanted to do some charity runs to raise money for charities that meant a lot to us, so I mentioned it to her, and she loved the idea. I’ve also been running recently to help me prepare for my Army assessments, so I thought it was perfect timing. 

“I think the biggest challenge we’ll face is making sure Immie is fit to run as she fractured her hip not long ago and has only recently started to run again, and only in short periods of time and slowly to not reinjure herself. We would’ve loved to do the half-marathon but we can’t risk it!” 

“People should register for the Hospice; to continue the important work they do they need as much fundraising as possible,” Cheri comments.