Give the gift of hospice – safety, love, comfort and care
“Providing care for Daniel at home became very difficult, and Daniel decided to solve the problem for us by getting worse. That’s when we came to Emily’s House.”
It wasn’t until months after Daniel was born that they discovered his brain was not growing, and that he had a rare genetic disorder. He soon came to require 24/7 care because of the unpredictable vomiting and long attacks of pain.
“We are medical parents,” his mom explains. She started to develop anxiety about the pain management: “I was constantly searching for pain relief for my son…. What to do? What medication to give now? What can take the pain away?”
For his entire life, Daniel’s parents were taking turns holding him, continuing to work at their jobs from his bedside, managing medications, suctioning fluids, and taking turns sleeping, even with in-home nursing support and grandparents helping. “Everyone was on a schedule to care for this child.”
Initially, when the family came to Emily’s House, it was to be a short stay, for five to ten days, to adjust his medications. That short stay turned into two months and three weeks.
His mom shared: “We also had good times with him. He loved when I was singing and dancing with him. We all refused our own comfort. We all sacrificed and spent hours and hours holding him…. My son passed away, not at home, but in a place of love and care, with a team trying to take away his pain. You are not our family members, but with you, he found love for three months and so much peace. You gave the best conditions ever in terms of love, medications, solving pain, and immediately responding to make adjustments to Daniel’s care. When you see Daniel in a safe atmosphere, this is what you want. Just safety and love.
People here know how to support parents, special needs children, family members who are hurting…. You spoke gently. You knew what was happening and you knew what to do. You deal with problems and diseases, and make the families feel comfortable.
At Emily’s House, I found the power to wake up and make new memories.
We all have a deadline…. We are here to learn. Our son was our teacher. He taught my husband and I to wake up, love and care. We are so rich to meet people with loving souls and big hearts….”
In hospice care, offering “safety and love” is central, while caring for each unique individual and their loved ones. It is our mission at Emily’s House children’s hospice and the Philip Aziz Centre for Hospice Care to support a life lived fully to the end by making a difficult journey, more manageable, meaningful, and memorable.
Many hospice clients have a longer life expectancy, and a quality-of-life expectancy for the time available. For them, hospice care may involve dressing up in a princess costume, participating in a family outing to a wheelchair accessible farm supported by a care team, enjoying celebrations with peer families, being accompanied to medical/legal appointments, returning to favourite places, seeing sites, sharing a special song, writing a special song, or meaningful talks with a compassionate listener.
Caregivers also need support: a safe place to be heard and cared for; to cry; to express fear and fatigue without feeling like they are a burden to their loved ones.
What the research shows is that hospice care supports quality of life for the individual at the centre of care, as well as improved mental health and wellbeing outcomes for caregivers and loved ones.
Emily’s House children’s hospice, Emily’s House at Home, and the Philip Aziz Centre for Hospice Care community program (for adults and children) – provide a range of supports for children, adults, caregivers, and families. In a preferred care environment, practical and wrap-around psychosocial supports can include social work, grief and bereavement, spiritual care, medical or recreational respite, child life consults, music therapy, children’s camps, peer group supports, volunteers, in-home care, and a customized care plan to add quality to life for each life shared with us.
“We all have a deadline.” As a “deadline” approaches – with impacts on an adult with a degenerative disease, a teen with complex disability, a younger sibling, a new baby, an isolated senior, an exhausted caregiver, or a grieving spouse – you can help make the most of the moments available.
Please donate online today. Simply complete the online donor form to make a one-time donation, or let us know if you would like to initiate monthly giving. Give the gift of hospice – safety, love, comfort and care.
Help make someone’s difficult journey more manageable, meaningful, and memorable. Our desire is that you and your loved ones will access “safety and love” for all your days, and so will all our GTA, Ontario communities.
With appreciation from our families and our team, season’s greetings and Merry Christmas!
P.S. If you donate before December 31st, you will receive a 2024 charitable tax receipt for your gift with our thanks.
P.P.S. Daniel’s mom had one more thing to add to this letter: “Emily’s House left us lots of memories with our son. We even celebrated Daniel’s second birthday. The Emily’s House recreation coordinator helped us create lots of lovely memories with Daniel’s footprint, a memory bear with his heartbeat that the music therapist recorded, and I am now wearing, with love and memory, a charm with our son’s footprints! Thank you, a lot, for these memories and gifts, which will stay forever with us, reminding us about our son!”
