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On Tuesday, 21st March this year, my wife Sarah and her brother Stephen, lost their lovely Dad Steve Parkinson (Parky to his friends) peacefully at East Lancashire Hospice after fighting cancer for over a year.

Now we know that anyone losing a family member is horrific and lots of people give cancer a run for its money every day… so why should you sponsor us? What makes us different?

Steve’s obituary reads that Steve was a great husband to Anne, much loved father of Stephen and Sarah, dear father in law of Sharon and Chris, loving grandad of Liam, Macauley, Lily and Daisy and a dear brother, brother in law and uncle.

He was.

What this doesn’t say is that Steve spent over a year in and out of hospital after numerous operations, and that some went right or that others could have gone better. Many times Steve was critically ill. Steve’s obituary doesn’t say that Steve missed out on countless family events or that he missed his daughter’s wedding because he had to have a lifesaving operation….. Sarah didn’t know this at the time as she thought her Dad was facetiming her from his hospital bed.

It also doesn’t tell you that when Steve was back at home with Anne that he actually wanted to get back to work! He even set up an office in his kitchen! Steve worked for Presspart for 27 years. His friends there said, “Steve was an absolute legend and true friend. His enthusiasm for life was infectious and we will miss his presence, laughter and music around our company.”

Steve also raised money for charities during his lifetime. One of the pictures attached shows Steve and his team from work (aka the Mo Bros ;) sporting a moustache for ‘Movember’ to raise money towards the fight against prostate and testicular cancer. His face says it all! =)

Steve’s obituary doesn’t tell you lots more but as the space for text is limited we better get to the point…

In the last few weeks of Steve’s life he was cared for and looked after by East Lancashire Hospice. Steve initially, we are told, didn’t want to go into the hospice. He wanted to be at home watching the birds in his garden. But Anne, Stephen, Sarah and the Macmillan nurses thought Steve would be more comfortable there and his pain better managed so were able to convince him it that the hospice was the right place to be.

The relief to have their Dad out of hospital and into the hospice was apparent the minute Steve first arrived and Steve never mentioned going home again after that. The staff and rooms there are amazing. There is no set routine at the hospice and Steve and his family were able to decide what they wanted to do and when they wanted to do it depending on the day Steve was having and the fact that they had no fixed visiting times. A home from home. Steve was treated with respect and dignity he deserved. The hospice went above and beyond and offered the end of life care that we would all wish to receive if it was ever needed.

So where does Ben Nevis come into this? Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the UK and on the 26th August 2017 we (a group of Sarah and Stephen’s friends and family) are planning to walk it to raise money for East Lancashire Hospice. To run the hospice just for one day costs approximately £7,000!

If we could raise just half of that as a heartfelt thankyou to the hospice, in memory of Steve Parkinson, we would be truly grateful.  

Thank you so much,

 from the Ben Nevis Nutters xxx

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