Theme: Our care and services

Bessie from Bolton is 101 years old and has Lymphoedema largely affecting her legs. David from Greater Manchester is 19 and has Lymphoedema largely affecting his lower legs. They are Moya Cole Hospice’s oldest and youngest Lymphoedema patients. 

Lymphoedema is a long-term chronic condition causing swelling in the body’s tissue, usually developing in the arms and legs. 

Moya Cole Hospice runs a Lymphoedema clinic which helps patients manage their symptoms. It’s a condition that can develop at any age due to an underlying condition. 

Bessie has become less mobile as she has gotten older and struggles to get in and out of bed. Her heart failure, has likely lead to the occurrence of Lymphoedema. 

“It has affected my life as it makes my legs so heavy. Walking is an issue and it makes it even more difficult to get in and out of bed,” Bessie said. 

Bessie’s daughter Carolyn has praised the work of Moya Cole Hospice. 

“They were wonderful. They were very patient, very kind, explained everything that they were doing, and gave mum lots of advice,” she added. 

David developed Lymphoedema at a young age, when he was around seven or eight, his parents noticed swelling in his legs. They brought him to St George’s Hospital in London and was diagnosed with the condition. 

According to David finding a paediatric facility when he was under the age of 18 was difficult, it was three hours in a car down to London when he was initially seeking treatment before he was sent to Derbyshire from his home in Manchester, still a distance of two hours. 

It was only when he was 18, was he able to seek treatment and symptom management at Moya Cole Hospice in Little Hulton which is a short drive from his home. 

Lymphoedema mainly affects David’s legs, with walking and running proving to be a a bit tricky but says it is something he is able to manage.  

“Day to day it doesn’t affect me all that much, I’m able to manage it now. It is largely just a gathering of fluid in my foot,” David said. 

“Moya Cole Hospice has helped me to manage my symptoms, one of the first things we did when I started attending my sessions there was bandaging. The fluid gathering in my foot was making it difficult to fit into any shoes and the team at Moya Cole Hospice were able to bring that fluid down so I could wear normal shoes again,” he added. 

Bessie sadly died last weekend at the age of 101. May she rest in peace.

The 2025 Christmas Appeal has been launched at Moya Cole Hospice to support the provision of care throughout the festive period and beyond.

Christmas may be a joyous time, but for some, including those in our care, it can be difficult. Moya Cole Hospice will be there to support those in end-of-life care in our wards or in their homes. We will be there to support those accessing our out-patients services, and we will be there supporting our patients’ families and loved ones throughout the festive period.

We are asking the community to help us fund that care as we require £20,000 a day to keep our hospices at Heald Green and Little Hulton operational.

Nicole Manley, Deputy Head of Clinical Services at Moya Cole Hospice says even a small donation can go a long way. 

Kathryn Edwards, a healthcare assistant at the hospice will be providing care to our patients in our wards on Christmas Day. 

This festive season, give the gift of care to make this Christmas a little brighter for our patients and their families. 

For more information or to make a donation, please click here. 

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.