During Remember a Charity Week we are celebrating some of our wonderful supporters who have chosen to leave a Gift to St Peter's Hospice in their Wills. Here we tell the story of the very first Gift pledged to a hospice, which paved the way for the modern hospice movement and how we care for end-of-life patients today.
Dame Cicely Saunders (pictured below, courtesy of St Christopher's Hospice) is regarded as the founder of modern hospice care.
In her early role as a hospital social worker, she met David Tasma, who was a Jewish refugee living with cancer.
David's experiences showed her that providing patients with spiritual and psychological support alongside symptom management would greatly ease pain and distress. It reinforced her belief that patients with life-limiting illnesses needed to be cared for in a different way.
David and Dame Cicely discussed creating a more home-like environment than what existed in hospitals at the time, offering hope and comfort to dying patients.
David left her a gift of £500 when he died so she could begin to achieve her vision of providing specialised end-of-life care to those who needed it, and to educate other medical professional in what we know recognise as modern hospice care. After working at other early hospices and completing a medical degree, Dame Cicely used the money to plan, fundraise for and build St Christopher's in south-east London in 1967.
Before he died, David told Dame Cicely "I'll be a window in your home", and to this day, there is a window dedicated to David at St Christopher's.
St Christopher's is now one of hundreds of Hospices providing care for millions of people across the UK. Without the generous Gift left in David's Will, hospice care as we know it may not have been born.
Since 1967, hospice care has continued to evolve and develop but one thing that remains the same is the difference that Gifts in Wills make to hospices around the country, including St Peter's.
Find out more about Gifts in Wills, including how to write your Will for free via our Gifts in Wills page.
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