Roxburghe House is a specialist palliative care unit in Aberdeen supported by Friends of Roxburghe House, which funds additional services and projects to help improve quality of life for patients.
For some of our colleagues, that support has a deeply personal significance.
Ron pictured with his mum Barbara and his son Sean
For Ron Hardie, CSV/CSA Lead, memories of Roxburghe House stretch back almost 30 years, when his mum, Barbara, received care before and after surgery for bowel cancer.
At the time, Roxburghe House was based in Milltimber, and visiting could feel daunting.
“You knew why everyone was there,” he remembers. “I would go in as focused as possible until I got to my mum’s room, where she would either be in bed or doing a jigsaw puzzle – and she was always in good spirits.”
At the time, hospital visiting hours were often limited to fixed periods of the day. Roxburghe House offered more flexibility, allowing families to visit throughout the day and spend more time together.
Barbara went on to recover from cancer, and it never returned.
“She put much of that down to Roxburghe House and her surgeon,” Ron recalls. “The arrival of my first son, Sean, also gave her even more motivation to keep going.”
The difference made by thoughtful care
Angela pictured with her dad Johnny
For Operations Compliance Specialist Angela Mowatt, Roxburghe House supported her family during the final weeks of her dad’s life.
From the moment he arrived, she remembers the team listening to what he wanted and doing everything they could to make him comfortable. Even when he could no longer eat, they made sure he could have ice lollies and ice cream.
But one of the strongest memories for her family is the gardens.
Johnny always loved nature and was fortunate to have a room that opened directly onto them. Although he became too unwell to go outside himself, he could still see the gardens from his room.
Maintained with the support of volunteers, the gardens were filled with plants, flowers and bird feeders positioned to attract different species, while patients who were able to could be taken around them in wheelchairs.
“On a sunny day it really did seem magical to have so many different birds so close,” Angela remembers. “It allowed a little bit of hope to sneak into what was one of the hardest experiences of our lives.”
The care and thoughtfulness shown by the team continued throughout Johnny’s time at Roxburghe House. On the day he died, the family were given small knitted blue hearts as keepsakes.
“It was the most meaningful keepsake we had ever been given,” she recalls.
“The fact that someone had put that kind of thought into what families experience, and had spent time knitting these hearts to give to people, was just incredible. To give someone that kind of memory during the most devastating time is so special.”
Why our support matters
These are just two individual experiences of Roxburghe House, but they show what its care and support has meant to patients and their families.
Throughout the year, the TauRx team will continue to raise funds and support the important work of Friends of Roxburghe House.
Find out more about Friends of Roxburghe House and its work here.
