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Hospice Celebration Walk
4th June 2023 @ 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Join with us this June for our Hospice Celebration Walk.
Get together with family and friends and walk to celebrate the life of someone special, raise funds and help us be there for those who need us most and their loved ones.
ON LINE REGISTRATION WILL RE-OPEN ON SUNDAY 4TH JUNE AT 10AM FOR THOSE WISHING TO SIGN UP ON THE DAY – JUST CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW AND PRESENT YOUR CONFIRMATION EMAIL TO THE TEAM AT THE REG DESK WHEN YOU ARRIVE FOR YOUR WALKER PACK. THANK YOU
Sign up today and receive a brilliant fundraising pack with lots of tips to help you smash your fundraising target. You’ll also receive a Hospice Celebration Walk message card and walking bib which you can write your loved ones name on, message and decorate. Message cards will go on display at the Hospice during the event and your walking bib can be pinned to your t-shirt for the walk.
Event details
Sponsored 5 mile Celebration Walk along the Ebbw Fawr Trail and Garden Festival Lake
Date: Sunday 4th June 2023
Venue: Hospice of the Valleys or take part Virtually
Timings: Registration and activities opens at 12.00pm / Hospice Celebration Walk starts at 2.00pm
Registration fee: Early Bird (1st – 30th April) Individual £5.60 / Team £26.00 (up to 5 individuals)
Standard (1st May – 4th June) Individual £7.00 / Team £30.00 (up to 5 individuals)
- Includes your Hospice Celebration Walk message card and walking bib.
- Hospice t-shirts are also available to purchase additionally in advance £8.50
Sponsorship: Raise £48.44 to pay for 2 x 1 hour bereavement support sessions with our Family Support Team or as much as you can.
Children are welcome to take part and anyone under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a registered adult taking part in the walk.
Activities include; Dream catcher, name bracelet making, memory keyrings, arts and crafts, face painting and lots more together with raffle and refreshments.
Please find a link to the route HERE
The entry fee helps pay towards the event costs but it’s YOUR kind, generous donations and fundraising that HELPS us provide the vital support our patients and loved ones need when it matters the most – YOU’RE our real-life heroes!
To find our more about fundraising options, please click HERE
The afternoon will include a special ceremony where we will come together and celebrate your loved ones and then walk a section of the Ebbw Fawr Trail before heading to loop around the picturesque Garden Festival Lake and return to the Hospice, approximately 5 miles.
There will be light refreshments available to purchase before and after the walk, raffle and activities to join in.
ON LINE REGISTRATION WILL RE-OPEN ON SUNDAY 4TH JUNE AT 10AM FOR THOSE WISHING TO SIGN UP ON THE DAY – JUST CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW AND PRESENT YOUR CONFIRMATION EMAIL TO THE TEAM AT THE REG DESK WHEN YOU ARRIVE FOR YOUR WALKER PACK. THANK YOU
A family who knows all too well the difference the Hospice can make, will you join with them in celebrating the life of someone special.
Meet Hayley she is taking on an incredible challenge to support the Hospice as her way of giving something back as her dad Keith and the wider family were supported by the Hospice a number of years ago.
Hayley recalls how her dad Keith was diagnosed in March 2016 with lung cancer and shortly after his diagnosis developed pneumonia and his lung collapsed, he was in hospital for several weeks fighting for his life and this was when Keith was first referred to the Hospice. Amazingly despite a long recovery following surgery to remove the lower lobe of his lung, he recovered well and follow up checks confirmed that the surgery was a success and the cancer was gone.
Keith slowly started to get better and become stronger, however by August the family noticed he was becoming increasingly tired, weak and off his food. Blood tests confirmed that Keith’s calcium levels were up and following scans the families worst nightmares were confirmed – Keith’s cancer had returned and was aggressively attacking his liver, pelvis and other organs. And the devastating news followed that Keith was terminal and so he was referred to the Hospice again. It was terminal.
Hayley describes how “The hospice not only supported my father with daily visits, they spent time chatting with him and sharing his humour. They saw my father as a man with dignity and pride, still very much head of our family. They supported him with personal care and provided us with a break from our caring role. The staff from the hospice spent time chatting with us and easing our worries if only a little, they were extremely empathetic towards the whole family and enabled us to keep my father at home until the end”.
Sadly Keith passed away on 8th October 2016 surrounded by his wife, Beverley, two sons, Justin and Luke, Hayley, his granddaughter Casey and beloved boxer dog Skye.
“We will be forever grateful to all the hospice team for the support, kindness and care they provided to our family at the hardest time of our lives.
Meet Our Sponsors
Business Industrial Solutions Ltd (BIS) is an industrial supplies and facilities management company. Established in 1973 BIS has been based in the valleys ever since and employs staff from the local area. BIS endeavours to put something back into the local community and sponsors local football and netball teams and donated PPE to local schools during the pandemic.
BIS staff have supported and participated in numerous events to include The Welsh 3 Peaks Challenge, Charity Golf Days, Celebration Walk to help raise funds for the Hospice of the Valleys to support all of the essential work they do for the local community.
We are proud to sponsor the Hospice of the Valleys Celebration Walk 2023.
Smart Money Cymru Community Bank is the fastest growing Community Bank in Wales. As a community organisation that prides itself on being there for those in our communities, it seemed appropriate to support the Hospice of the Valleys to continue the amazing work they doing to support those who use the hospice services and their loved ones”.
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Jacqui’s Story
Losing someone you love is undoubtedly the hardest thing any of us will go through. But to lose someone during, or because of, the current COVID-19 pandemic is even more heart-breaking.
Chris Tiley and his daughters Meselle and Aimee share their moving story of how Covid-19 impacted their final weeks with their wife and mother Jacqui, who sadly passed away on 25th April, aged just 57.
Jacqui had been battling cancer for fourteen months but the COVID-19 pandemic meant she spent her final days in hospital without her family by her side and with no-one to hold her hand when she passed away.
Jacqui was referred to Hospice in July 2018, following her diagnosis of cervical cancer, which had spread to her lymph glands and lungs.
‘All of the team at the Hospice were amazing, I can’t put into words how brilliant Michelle was, she advised mam what she could claim when she wasn’t able to work anymore and helped sort out the paperwork. And since mam has died she has helped me loads, changing everything over that was in mam’s name.
Jayne the nurse was also lovely and helped mam understand what things meant when she would have test results or appointments with the doctor, she would call in to see mam just to check in on her, as mam wasn’t one to ring and ask for help’ Meselle recalls.
Jayne continued to support Jacqui and the family during lockdown, via phone calls and also visiting wearing full PPE.
Meselle said: ‘Mam was so ill for the last month that we couldn’t hug her or kiss her as she was so at risk of catching the virus and we were so afraid of giving it to her. I can’t put into words how difficult that was.’
On 16th April Jacqui’s condition deteriorated and so the family called Jayne, When Jayne arrived she suggested that Jacqui needed to go into hospital as she was having trouble breathing.
‘Mam had always said that when the time came she would go into hospital to die as our home was our happy place and she didn’t want us to have sad memories of her passing away here– that was mam always thinking of us. Although when she went in the ambulance that day we didn’t think she wouldn’t be coming home’, Messelle recalls.
‘I sat on the settee and cuddled her while we waited for the ambulance to come. I didn’t think it would be the last time I held her in my arms’, Chris recalls.
Due to the pandemic none of the family were able to go with Jacqui, she had to go alone in the ambulance and the family had to wait at home for news on how she was. They also weren’t allowed to visit her in hospital and so all contact was via the phone and FaceTime.
After being in hospital for a week with no physical visits from her family the hospital called to say that Jacqui had requested to see Chris. They would make arrangements for him to go in to see her, but he would have to wear full PPE.
It was during this visit that Chris was told by the doctors that Jacqui’s condition was deteriorating and it could be a matter of days that she had left. Chris had to shoulder this news on his own and then go home and tell his two daughters the earth shattering news.
The girls were totally devastated by the news but felt so helpless and they couldn’t be with their mum during her final days and also couldn’t help thinking of their mum being in hospital all alone.
Left totally distraught Meselle contacted the hospital who agreed that one other family member could go in to see Jacqui.
Meselle was the last person to see her mum alive in hospital and heartbreakingly, Aimee and Chris didn’t get to say their final goodbyes. Aimee recalls: ‘All I wanted was a cwtch from my friends but they couldn’t come round to the house – it was so hard. Losing a loved one is always hard but having to deal with it during the pandemic has been so much worse. If, by sharing our story, we can help just one other family then we will have done mam proud. Knowing the hospice is there to support us really has helped.’
