Cancer society fundraiser opens door to night nurses

Dublin woman Dolores Hodgins wanted to be in her own home when she died.

And she was, thanks to the Irish Cancer Society’s (ICS) free night nurse service which last year benefited almost 2,000 cancer patients who wanted to be with loved ones, surrounded by familiar things, when they said goodbye.

The service is funded by Daffodil Day which is taking place on Friday and has an ambitious fundraising target of €3.45 million.

John McCormack, chief executive of the society, says he is confident its efforts to reassure volunteers and donors, following recent controversies at other charities, will ensure that the public will continue to support terminally ill patients and their families.

McCormack says the society has gone around the country meeting volunteers to reassure them that the ICS is not a “section 38” organisation, that its staff do not receive top-ups and that it is committed to transparency about all aspects of fundraising.

“We believe we have allayed any concerns that were out there,” says McCormack. The society did receive “some” calls from donors, anxious to know how their money was being spent, but it expects that the response to its main fundraising project on Friday will be as generous as ever.

“I am very confident that people will respond to the campaign both because of the work we do, and because of the memory of what happened last year lingers in the mind of most Irish people,” says the ICS boss.

The 2013 Daffodil Day collection dipped by €500,000 to €2.7 million when, due to appalling weather conditions on the day, people were actually urged to stay indoors.

Outpouring
This setback was offset by the outpouring of support for Majella O'Donnell, wife of singer, Daniel, who, after her diagnosis with breast cancer, had her head shaved on The Late Late Show . She went on to raise €600,000 for the society.

Last year the night nurses supported 1,868 patients and their families, delivering 7,770 nights of care. The society, which said it fulfilled 94 per cent of requests for home night nursing last year, stresses that this could not have been done without street sellers and Daffodil Day event organisers.

Dubliner Noel Hodgins says his family would have been lost without the service during his mother Dolores's final weeks in her Darndale home. Dolores was determined to have one last Christmas with her family, and made it to January 2nd when she died in her own home.

“It was a difficult time for the family but we wanted to bring her home from the hospital because she wanted that,” explains Noel. “I don’t think we would have got through it without the calmness and the knowledge of the nurses.

“They came in at 11pm and left at 6am but we felt they were always there if we did not know what to do, and we often had to ring them.”

Noel’s mother had been diagnosed with lung cancer five years ago. “She got pains in her chest and thought it was a heart attack. She was actually relieved when they told her what it was,” he recalls.

After having surgery, Dolores, then in her 50s, learned that her glands were affected and was told that she had 12 months to live without treatment.

A few years later, having had no treatment, she was given the all-clear but last year while on holidays in Majorca she became ill and was soon diagnosed with terminal stage 4 cancer .

Before leaving Beaumont Hospital, Dolores was having panic attacks which were distressing for her sons.

They brought her bed downstairs and the night nurses soon brought an air of calm to the home. “They spoke to us like adults, they explained everything and every morning they told us what to expect that day,” says Noel.

Practical issues
Dolores's sons worried about many practical things like whether to double up on medication if their mother slept through the allotted period, and what to do when she was no longer able to swallow tablets. The nurses guided them through every aspect of her care.

“If you have to put a needle in your mother, you need to know you are doing it right and that she is comfortable. The nurses were always just a phone call away. We really would have been lost without them,” says Noel.

His mother rallied on Christmas Day, tucked into a turkey dinner and had a beer with her sons, while a family sing-song lifted everyone’s spirits.

For the next week, the nurses guided Noel and his brothers, Mark and Gavin, right up to the end when they warned that a change in Dolores’s breathing meant it was time to say goodbye.

“They relaxed us all. They made us comfortable and helped us get through the whole thing. I hope other families know that this service is available,” says Noel.

The Irish Cancer Society provides night nurses free of charge for up to 10 nights. There are 230 night nurses available through the country.

Funds raised on Daffodil Day also go towards research and advocacy, according to the society.

To donate, Callsave 1850 60 60 60, email fundraising@irishcancer.ie or visit cancer.ie/daffodilday. A “Daff Day” smartphone app can be downloaded from any mobile phone app store.