By Leicester Mercury | Posted February 11, 2013
Thanks to LOROS hospice, Wendy Chapman was able to marry her childhood sweetheart, Jason, before he died of cancer.
It was the saddest and most traumatic time the couple had been through in the 17 years they had been together, but Wendy said staff and volunteers at the hospice helped bring happiness and even laughter to their big day.
"LOROS became like a home," said Wendy, 37, of Cadeby. "I didn't really leave Jason the whole time he was there. "I think the care we had there helped us cope after Jason died. It gave us the foundations for life without him.
"I see the time we had at LOROS as our time in heaven with Jason before he died."
Jason was diagnosed with bowel cancer in November 2009. It was already terminal, doctors said, and he was given up to two years to live.
"He had been having stomach pains but there was no real warning before he was diagnosed," said Wendy.
"We went into hospital and that was it, he was given months, maybe a couple of years if he was lucky."
After an operation to remove the tumour and then chemotherapy treatment, Jason felt well and was even able to go back to his job running a transport business.
"He recovered well from the operation and we had a good Christmas and were thinking about how we were going to fight it," said Wendy.
"LOROS wasn't in our minds then as the word hospice made us think that was the place you went to if you'd given up hope."
But in May 2010, Jason took a turn for the worse.
"Almost overnight, he got really, really poorly," said Wendy. "We went back to hospital for an operation but the doctors said they weren't able to go through with it. It was all very traumatic and he was in a lot of pain.
"He was in hospital for about six weeks. It wasn't the right place for him but he was too poorly to come home.
"That's when the palliative care nurses suggested LOROS. We felt scared, but we realised it was what he needed."
Jason went into LOROS and spent several weeks there in the summer of 2010.
"The day he went in he was in so much pain, but within 24 hours he felt so much better," says Wendy.
"The pain relief they gave him and everything, his quality of life, was so much better."
Jason's time at LOROS helped him get well enough for another round of chemotherapy and he spent time at home before being admitted again.
He died at the hospice on September 25, aged 40.
The couple were married there three weeks before, on September 3.
"I think it was a natural thing for us to do," said Wendy.
"You would think it might be all doom and gloom, but it was such a happy day.
"Jason managed to get dressed in his suit and we had a room with balloons and confetti. It was a lovely day and that's all to the credit of the staff there. They're all angels."
