Dragonfly Scheme South Tees Hospitals

10/10/2025

Hospice care is more than you think. On the wards, in the community, and in people's homes across the UK, hospices look after people who are approaching the end of life day in, day out. But their services are under threat like never before. Will you ask your MP to help? The need for hospice care is....

07/10/2025

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Someone asked me if I still feel anything when someone dies, or if I have become numb to death after all the years I’ve spent in end-of-life care, and all the goodbyes and deaths I have witnessed. The question caught me off guard, not because it was offensive, but because it reminded me of how misunderstood this work can be.

The truth is that I feel everything. I always have. What time and experience has changed is not the depth of my feeling, but my relationship to it. I’ve sat at the bedside of so many people as they take their last breaths and I have held hands, whispered final words, witnessed love, fear, surrender, and grace. These moments don’t numb you; they shape you and they soften you. And eventually, they bring you to a quiet place of peace with death itself.

I don’t sit in discomfort. I don’t rush to fix what can’t be fixed. I show up with presence, with reverence, and with a deep understanding that this, too, is part of life. When you’ve been in the room enough times, you stop trying to resist what’s happening, and you learn to honor it.

Making peace with death doesn’t mean I am detached or unfeeling, it means I have found a steadiness within myself, a kind of sacred pause that allows me to be fully present. I am not overwhelmed. I am not trying to make sense of it or avoid the weight of it. I am just there, grounded, bearing witness without judgment, without needing to rescue or retreat. It’s not about being numb, it’s about knowing exactly where I am and why it matters so much.

I have made peace with death; not just as a part of my work, but as a part of life. I accept its presence, both personally and professionally, and I am prepared for it in ways that don’t make me less emotional, only less afraid. My experience has gently shaped me, teaching me how to sit with those who are dying and those who are grieving, to hold space in the sacred stillness of a final breath. And while I’ve grown familiar with death, I hope I never grow numb to its significance. Each goodbye remains holy. Each moment, a quiet reminder of how deeply we are connected.

Even after all this time, I still believe that death deserves our presence, not our fear.

xo
Gabby

You can find this blog here:
https://www.thehospiceheart.net/post/death-deserves-our-presence-not-our-fear

05/10/2025

Our grief is with us every day, but finding a way forward with help and support is key 🧡

02/10/2025

The Macmillan cafe has a new venue from Friday 3 October it will be held in the Chaplaimcy meeting room in the north entrance corridor of James cook hospital drop in from 11 till 1 all are welcome see poster below 💚💚💚

02/10/2025

Are you in?

23/09/2025

Have you got questions about Maggie’s Middlesbrough? We’re holding a stakeholder event tomorrow, Tuesday 23 September at 5.30pm where partners, fundraisers and colleagues are invited to meet our Maggie’s colleagues and learn more about the expert cancer support coming to the area. There will be the opportunity to ask questions and share any comments you have as part of the event. To join the event, please visit https://brnw.ch/21wVZl4

20/09/2025

Sadly, someone will die today waiting for an organ transplant.” - That’s the stark message from local organ donation specialist nurses as they urge people to sign the national organ donation register.

11/09/2025

Hospice care is more than you think. On the wards, in the community, and in people's homes across the UK, hospices look after people who are approaching the end of life day in, day out. But their services are under threat like never before. Will you ask your MP to help? The need for hospice care is....

06/09/2025

If you're wondering where they've gone,
They are never too far away,
Our loved ones watch over us,
Each moment of every day.

Of course we can't see them,
As they are just beyond the veil,
But the connection of the love we share,
Will always come forth and prevail.

Maybe a gentle whisper heard,
Or a feather on your path,
Reminding us that love goes on,
Remembered in each smile and laugh.

Their essence can be present in a song,
Or in a scent from days now passed,
They may visit in a surreal dream,
where you hug again at last.

So, don't ever resign yourself to believing,
that our loved ones disappear,
They are always leaving little signs,
To let you know they're near ..

🖋️C.E. Coombes 🎨 via Pinterest

Serendipity Corner 🪶

05/09/2025

05/09/2025

From October, our centre will become Maggie’s Middlesbrough, providing free support to people with cancer and those who love them.

Our Complementary Therapies team at Trinity Holistic Centre will now work for Maggie’s so you will still see the same friendly faces around the centre.

If you already have an appointment with us, please do come in as planned.

To keep up-to-date with what’s happening in the centre and the support we’ll be providing to people with cancer, please do follow us at Maggie's Middlesbrough


Our Hospitals Charity - James Cook, Friarage & Community Hospitals James Cook NHS Hospital