“I’m 73 and live in Writtle with my husband, Tony, of 54 years. We have three sons, two lovely daughters-in-law and six grandchildren ranging from 23 to 6 years old.
I have been involved with Girlguiding for 40 years, undertaking many different roles but my heart lies with 1st Writtle Brownies where I have been their Leader for most of those years.
I take part in Farleigh Hospice’s Walk for Life each year, walking from Heybridge to Chelmsford. I’ve also been volunteering at the charity’s Writtle store on one afternoon a week for nine years. I am happy to do anything including manning the till, steaming the clothes and sorting out toys and books.
That said, although I’ve been to the hospice many times with money that I have raised and for the volunteers’ afternoon tea, I was still unaware of the support that they offer to outpatients.
I was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in March 2025 and to say that I was shocked, scared and upset is an understatement!
I was referred to Farleigh and my first port of call was Tessa, the hospice’s MND coordinator. She outlined all of the services and support that Farleigh offers to MND patients. When it was clear that I didn’t want to look too far ahead, she was amazing and immediately understood my fears.
Tessa has co-ordinated all the help I need and is assisting me with my application for a parking ‘blue badge’ and also liaising with my GP. I will have further appointments with her to check my progress.
I also get support from Rachel, who is Farleigh’s fab, upbeat physiotherapist. She makes suggestions but doesn’t impose and has really made me feel that I can actually live with this disease. She brought me some ankle splints to try and they are now my new best friends!
Tess organised for me to go to Braintree Hospital where I was given lots of advice about eating, drinking and speaking, which can all be affected by MND. I was encouraged to ‘bank’ my voice for future use through something called Speakunique, which is a great idea. I had to read 160 phrases from a book selection which were recorded. You have to keep trying until they can capture your voice properly, then it’s digitally repaired. They send you the samples to check that you’re happy and then the recordings are saved in the bank to be used with an app if I need to in the future.
I’m very excited that Girlguiding is taking part in Farleigh’s Buzz in the City art trail in Chelmsford this summer. It is particularly special to me now that I am under the care of the wonderful Farleigh team.
Thanks to Fiona, our District Commissioner, we have a mini bee sculpture which will be part of the trail. It is great for Girlguiding as it gets everyone involved, especially the children. We had a great day decorating the mini bee and doing lots of bee-related activities – all of the little bees on our sculpture are the children’s thumb prints! It also helps us to raise awareness of Girlguiding.
I continue to volunteer at Farleigh’s Writtle store. Obviously, since my diagnosis, I can’t do quite so much, but I still love going there.
Having only recently been diagnosed, the feeling of dread and hopelessness is still fresh in my mind but the support that I’ve received from Farleigh Hospice has made a huge difference. Without it, I don’t believe that our family would have been half as optimistic about the future as we are now.
If anyone else is in the same situation, I would encourage them to be brave and take that first step. There’s a big Farleigh-shaped hug waiting for you with friendly support and expertise that can really help in all areas of your life.”