I know what you must be thinking...
That a cancer ward on Christmas morning must be the most heartbreaking place you could possibly find yourself.
My name is Sara, and I’m a nurse on the Mater’s cancer ward.
I’ve worked three Christmases in a row. And, yes, there is sadness…of course there is. For some patients, this Christmas here at the Mater will be their very last.
But if you were to come here on Christmas Day, what you’d feel on this ward more than anything else… is love. Hands are held. Precious memories shared. Words of love spoken softly…
For the patients who are too sick to go home to their families this Christmas. Will you give today and provide comfort, care and precious moments of love to someone spending Christmas at the Mater?
A generous circle of supporters — caring people like yourself — have offered to MATCH every gift made up to €11,000 this Christmas! The only catch is your gift must arrive before 22nd December, so your love can reach us for Christmas Day. Will you give and watch your love stretch twice as far?
Let me tell you how your kindness and empathy can bring moments of pure love and lasting memories to families whose time together is short and precious.
It was Christmas Eve night…
I’d just started my shift, and I was doing the rounds, when I caught sight of a scene that I know will stay in my heart forever.
It was a patient I’d become very fond of over the months she’d been with us.
I’ll call her Rose, because her room always smelled of roses.
She had this spray she’d use to stop it smelling like a hospital. Walking into her room was like walking into a summer garden.
She was only around 50. And you wouldn’t have wanted to find yourself on the wrong side of her, but once you got to know her, she was soft as a kitten. A Sinéad O’Connor fan, she had that rebel spirit in her. I just loved her.
Anyway, I poked my head into her rose-scented room that Christmas Eve night, and both of her grown-up daughters were in the room there with her.
They all knew in their hearts, this Christmas together would be their last.
And they were all three of them, a mother and her girls, side by side, asleep.
Each daughter was holding one of their mam’s hands.
They wanted the chance to wake up with their lovely mam on Christmas morning… one final time.
It was an expression of pure love, the kind of love you’d feel yourself if it were you here in the early hours of Christmas morning… if it was someone you love who was too sick to come home.
Whether your kindness this Christmas puts sheets and pillows on a pullout bed so a daughter can sleep beside her dying mother on Christmas Eve…
… or puts a little wrapped present on the end of the bed of a patient who has no family to go home to…
… or provides the mini-fridge to store the only food a cancer patient can keep down on Christmas Day…
… a little of your love goes such a long way when time is short and precious.
I’ll be here again this Christmas with the Mater nurses…
Checking drips. Dispensing pain relief. Replacing lines. Holding hands…
…and with your help, I promise we’ll do everything in our power to make this Christmas extra special for people who are too sick to go home.
For patients and families who know in their heart that this Christmas here at the Mater will probably be their last.
Anything you can give will be received with the most sincere and heartfelt gratitude by all of us here.
And thanks to a group of kind supporters who have offered to MATCH any gift you make up to €11,000 — your kindness will do double the good.
I’m so grateful for your time, your kindness and your open heart today.
With love to you and yours this Christmas,
Nurse Sara
St Vincent’s Cancer Ward
The Mater Hospital