Light up a Life: Steph recalls the care her son received at Moya Cole Hospice

My name is Steph Darbyshire, and Moya Cole Hospice will always have a place in my heart. 

My son, Nicholas, had a seizure that left him with catastrophic brain injuries in April 2021. He died at the hospice in September 2022. 

I am sharing this with you, because I know how much the hospice means to families like mine. That is why I’m supporting this year’s Light Up a Life appeal, and I’m asking you to join me. 

I always thought of a hospice as being somewhere depressing and horrible, and I was really skeptical, but I didn’t want Nicholas to stay in hospital either, it was too clinical. 

I spoke with the team from the hospice, and they put me at ease about how they would care for him. 

I will always remember my first impression of the hospice. I was so surprised at how bright, how homely it felt. 

The nurses told me to bring any of his personal stuff, photographs and any personal possessions that would make the room his. 

The one thing that he did like was fairy lights. He had fairy lights all around his room at home. I worried that the fairy lights would be too much to bring in. 

But, the next day, one member of staff had found a massive vase containing twigs that had fairy lights all around it. They stayed in his room from that day until the day he passed away.

After he passed away, they put beautiful flowers on his pillow. The number of people that came to me after was astonishing. 

A lady who used to clean his room came up to me and said that he was an amazing young man. “How can you tell? He doesn’t communicate,” I said. 

“It’s just his aura,” she said. 

I’ve been to a Light up a Life service before and for me, it‘s all about giving back. I donate to the Light up a Life appeal because Moya Cole Hospice do such incredible work.