Angela’s lasting memories
Angela Quinn, an outpatient at Moya Cole Hospice, has been working on two memory boxes so her son and nephew have lasting memories of her
Angela Quinn was diagnosed with cancer five years ago while she was pregnant with her son, George. As her illness progressed, it became paramount to her to create lasting memories for him to cherish for years to come.
Creative therapy was something that Angela had been interested in prior to her arrival at Moya Cole Hospice as an outpatient at the Being You Centre. With the help of Outpatient Assistant Practitioner, Sara Cox, Angela decided to create memory boxes for both her five-year-old son and nine-year-old nephew.
Angela has neuroendocrine cancer, a rare illness. She was told it was non-curative.
“We’ve had a really good five years,” Angela said, sitting next to her husband Martin in the Haven at Moya Cole Hospice.
Contents from the two boys’ memory boxes are sprawled on the table. A showcase of her seven months of work.
It's a slow growing cancer. I would say I've had a really good quality of life compared to a lot of people Angela Quinn, Moya Cole Hospice Outpatient
Before February, Angela only came to Moya Cole Hospice to get her bloods done at the Christie’s Closer to Home clinic.
“I knew about it because I had friends and their families who have been cared for here. I supported the hospice by doing the midnight walk a few years ago. That was tiring, let me tell you!” She smiled.
Angela wants George and her nephew to have something to look at, a box of lasting memories.
“There’s this really nice book called ‘The Invisible String’.
“The idea is that before you are born there is this invisible string connecting you to the people you love, even if you can’t physically see them anymore,” Angela said tearfully.
That was the premise for me wanting to create these boxes. It's prompting memories for the boys so they can feel that invisible string Angela Quinn, Moya Cole Hospice Outpatient
The book is written by Patrice Karst. Angela first heard about the book through her sessions at the Being You Centre.
“It’s a nice book to read to children to prepare them for loss,” she said.
“Then I met Sara who works in the Being You Centre. She’s absolutely incredible. I can’t tell you how much she has meant to me. From the moment I met her, I just felt so at ease.
She is helping me with the memory boxes. At first, we talked a lot about what we wanted the boxes to look like. Through suggestions and hearing about what other people have done, I decided to write cards for my son for his future birthdays Angela Quinn, Moya Cole Hospice Outpatient
“He will have something from me each year on his birthday. That’s something I don’t think I could have done without coming here,” she said.
As part of the memory boxes, Angela with the help of her husband, Martin, has been creating memory books for the boys.
Martin says coming up with different memories to put in the boys’ books has been a cathartic and joyful experience.
“We’ve added different events, things we have all done together, photos from the time the boys would visit their grandpa. They’ll have that to look at every day,” he said.
Angela has also recorded audio books for her son to have at bedtime.
“That was something else that Sara inspired me to do. I’ve always loved bedtime with my son, and I hate the thought of not being there at bedtime to read stories because we read a lot of books together. So, I’ve recorded audio books with the help of my friend, and we have them digitalised so they will always be there for him.
It's also nice to know that Martin will have that in the future. When he's too tired from a long day, he can have me reading a story to George Angela Quinn, Moya Cole Hospice Outpatient
Some other items that are included in the box are an atomiser of Angela’s perfume, so George can smell his mum. They’ve also provided her nephew with an atomiser. She has also included some of her memories from her childhood and early years, such as a theatre programme from Me and My Girl which Angela has had for 28 years.
“It’s been a cathartic experience getting to go through my memories and sharing that with my mum. We’ve had a right giggle at some of the stuff we found. We found my old diary and stuff like that.
“It’s a therapeutic experience for me. When I’m at home and I’m feeling low, I can pick up the memory book and if I don’t have much energy, I can just look through it and think of ideas.
“And when I’m having a good day, I can come here and work on them with Sara,” she said.
When Angela came to Moya Cole Hospice, she was looking for creative and expressive therapies. She says creating the memory boxes has been exactly that for her.
Another thing Angela had made with the help of Sara are teddies for both George and her nephew. They were created out of fabrics that mean a lot to all of them including fabric from one of Angela’s favourite outfits, a pirate suit her nephew used to always wear and his first pair of Manchester City FC socks.
“When I saw the bears for the first time, I burst into tears. It was happy tears,” Angela said.
According to Angela, affording the materials and items for the memory box can be a lot for some people and it is something that she is aware of. She wants to give back to the hospice in ways that will help other people in the future to make a box of their own.
We've planned my funeral. We have planned that half of the donations will go to one charity and the other half will come here to the Being You Centre. But what I'm going to do is buy the materials and donate them to the hospice. So, in the future, Sara will have those materials at hand Angela Quinn, Moya Cole Hospice Outpatient
Angela has said that her time at Moya Cole Hospice has changed her impression of hospice care.
“If you asked me seven months ago about dying in a hospice, I would have told you no. It wasn’t for me. Being here has completely changed my opinion on that. Today marks my last session with Sara, so she is going to give me a tour of the IPU. That means when that time comes, I know what to expect. It is a completely different environment here than I had previously thought. Everyone is so warm and welcoming, and I can’t thank them enough for their support.”