Jenny's story
Tasha suffered from agoraphobia and spent many years trapped away in her home, her safe place. She found a lump in her arm but couldn’t bring herself to get it checked until one day it had become so big that it ruptured, she had no choice and was rushed to hospital. About three or four weeks later we received the heart-wrenching news that she had cancer. You hear the word and you think the worst, especially as a mum, I just wanted it to not be real.
Tasha was diagnosed with Triple-Negative Breast Cancer. It is something normally only older women get, she was only 29. Because of the type of cancer it was and because she had probably had it for so long meant it had also spread to her lungs. I felt so angry and confused. How could this be happening to my baby? She still had so much life to live. I was terrified.
As a family we were devastated, it felt unreal and so unfair.
A few weeks after Dad received his terminal diagnosis the hospice was recommended to us. My dad knew many people who had been to Dove House and had expressed himself when the time was right that was where he wished to go.
Dove House was amazing from the second they became involved. Tasha went for respite care for a week as she was really struggling with her pain. I am not going to lie, she was terrified. But she did it. It was such a huge step for her but she overcame it. The hospice made her comfortable and she learnt to trust that it could be her safe place.