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My daughter is dying.

Zoe wants to spend the little time she has left living; not waiting to die. She wants to be outside, to feel the sun on her face. She wants to laugh with her friends and simply be Zoe.

This couldn’t happen in hospital, so she chooses to come to St Elizabeth Hospice.

Here the nurses and doctors listen to Zoe. They keep her calm, take away her pain and make her feel safe.

We spend our last days together in the sunshine, listening to the birds. We have the luxury of time to simply be Mum and Zoe. Nothing else matters. St Elizabeth Hospice help Zoe make a final visit to see her grandad, so she can say goodbye and tell him she loves him. We lie together at night time and I watch over her while she sleeps, just like I did when she was a little girl.

She is so brave, but we both know this is a fight she can’t win.

Zoe dies peacefully with me by her side. No parent should have to hold their child as they take their last breath, but I’m so glad I was there to see her last smile and hear her last laugh.

Now she is gone, I cherish the precious memories of those last few weeks, they mean everything to me.”