James and Lee’s Hospice Story
“St Elizabeth Hospice is not about end-of-life care. It is about you and your loved one living as best you can using the hospice’s support to make this as easy as it can be,” explained James Fox-Golding, whose partner, Lee Fox, received support from St Elizabeth Hospice’s Community Team and OneCall service, before his death, aged 42-years-old, on 28th October 2020.
Annually, St Elizabeth Hospice cares for more than 4,000 patients and their families throughout East Suffolk, Great Yarmouth and Waveney. This care sees the independent Suffolk charity providing free services – whenever and wherever it is needed, whether at home, in the community or at the hospice – to those living with a progressive or life-limiting illness.
“Lee was a very caring person and worked for the East of England Ambulance Service for 18 years,” said James (pictured left), who is from Rendlesham.
“Beginning as a paramedic in 2003, he rose through the ranks before joining the trust’s local operating manager team, in East Suffolk, in 2015.
“He was affectionately known as ‘Foxy’ among friends and colleagues, and was just a great person to be around.
“Lee had been having some discomfort and we had tests in hospital thinking he had kidney stones. However, the results were inconclusive and doctors requested Lee went for further tests, which is when the tumour was discovered in early 2019.
“Initially, they believed the tumour to be curable but additional tests found it to be incurable and Lee underwent a period of chemotherapy.
“In September 2019 Lee had an operation to remove the tumour, but when they conducted the operation they found the cancer had spread.
“He then underwent a continued period of chemotherapy from the hospital for a number of months, as well as having counselling support from St Elizabeth Hospice and their emotional & wellbeing team, before eventually receiving palliative care from the hospice, in October 2020, on their inpatient unit.
“Lee’s time at the hospice’s inpatient unit was during the Covid-19 pandemic, but the hospice team were brilliant in making him feel welcome and comfortable, keeping us as a family fully to up to date at the same time.
“He was under the care of the inpatient unit for one week, to get his condition under control, but his goal was to return home to receive care from the hospice’s community team, which was an ambition we achieved.
“Speaking with the hospice’s occupational therapists, we worked out what equipment would be needed to ensure Lee could return home and this was quickly sourced. Everything from a hospital bed to standing aids were sorted very quickly and took the pressure off of me.
“Until you are in that scenario, you’re not really aware of the support you can access, but the St Elizabeth Hospice team took control of the situation, using their expertise to enable me to be Lee’s partner rather than his carer, during the precious time we had remaining together.
“Once at home, the team would visit us regularly to check on Lee and see how they could provide further assistance. Lee even commented ‘how amazing the hospice team are’ and how patient they were in answering any questions we had.
“As well as this, we felt reassured knowing we had the 24/7 support of the hospice’s OneCall phone line, which we would often use in the night.
“In total, Lee received two weeks of care from St Elizabeth Hospice, at our home, until his death. Throughout the whole process, the team understood our circumstances, providing individualised and compassionate care.
“Without St Elizabeth Hospice I don’t think we would have achieved Lee’s wish to die at home and I am forever grateful to them for making this possible. This is part of the reason I was inspired, in January 2021, to apply to volunteer for the charity.
“After applying, the volunteering team spoke with me to find out my interests and my skillset, which led to me helping once a week, driving PPE in the hospice van, during the height of the pandemic. It felt special to be able to give back to the hospice and to help their team, in some way, to deliver their vital care to patients and their families.
“My background is in events management and subsequently the volunteering team made me aware of a job opportunity as Events & Challenges Manager at the hospice in late 2022. I applied and was so happy to be successful, and I haven’t looked back since.
“I feel very lucky to be doing the right job for me, for a cause I totally believe in. It really is a privilege to work for St Elizabeth Hospice. Being part of a team which hosts such events as Midnight Walk and Christmas Day Dip is humbling and I am extremely proud of the charity.
“Having received the support of the hospice, as well as volunteering and now working for the charity, I can say with complete confidence it is a special organisation, which has compassion and people at the heart of all it does.”
