Veronica and Riccardo's story
38-year-old Veronica and her husband, Riccardo, moved to the UK from Italy just a few months before Veronica received her cancer diagnosis. The couple found themselves in a new country and separated from their usual support networks when, in their own words, their “world was turned upside down.”
“It was a lot to face, and the hospice helped ease that pressure, that initial shock of the diagnosis and how our lives were going to drastically change overnight,” Veronica explains.
“The St John’s Community team came to us at home. As well as being a source of pain and symptom control, our community nurse discussed the new situation we found ourselves in, the medications I was now going to be on, setting up the equipment I would need, and organised visits from their therapists. They also referred us to the day services at the hospice and made sure that in those months when I struggled to walk, the ambulance came to pick me up, so I never missed a week.”
“They helped us realise we weren’t alone and that there was this amazing community we were a part of and that we could be supported by.”
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