A Visit To North Middlesex Hospital
Friday 19th April was a very special day for The Nightingale. We were kindly invited to the chemo day ward and bedded unit for a visit to North Middlesex Hospital to hand out our beautiful Stitches of Support blankets made from squares from around the UK and put together by our Knit and Natter group.
Here’s a round up of Fiona and Sue’s moving visit, including a surprise encounter with a few old friend.
“On arrival we headed to the day unit and started to hand out the blankets to all the patients whilst they were having their chemo. It was a special privilege to be able to visit all 19 patients in the bedded ward and share the love that had gone into every stitch in the Stitches of Support blankets.
No sooner had we gone through the doors than the nurses were telling us about a couple who had gotten married the day before as the Bride was palliative. They insisted that to give them a blanket would be so special. I literally only just turned around and a Nightingale client was standing in front of me. He was the groom.
Both the Bride and Groom had been Nightingale clients since 2019, we hadn’t seen them in a while. After a big hug and letting him know that we are still here for him and his children we went in to see his wife. She was in and out of consciousness, but I managed to get a smile from her when mentioning the time she dyed her hair pink.”
Sadly, we got a call on Monday to inform us that she passed away on the Sunday, surrounded by her loving family. We were told she had the blanket on her all weekend and that her daughter had left the hospice wearing it as it was now ‘Mum’s blanket’. Fiona and Sue were happy they got to see them both before her passing on what was a truly fateful meeting.
“After visiting the newlyweds, we then went on to all the other wards and met one of our clients who hadn’t answered our check-in phone calls in a long time. As she had missed a few calls she was embarrassed to call us back. When she is discharged, she will be coming back to the centre, Sue and I will make sure of that!
There were several elderly patients at the bedded ward who don’t have regular visitors so to be able to give them a blanket (a hug) was so special. On Monday I had an email from someone saying her sister had received a lovely blanket whilst in bed at the hospital and that she would love to come to the centre for support. Her assessment has already been booked in.
To know that we have spread the love with the blankets and have been able to let people know that we are here to help made what should have been a sad time a very beautiful morning.”
Mete, the Charity Manager at North Middlesex Hospital who invited Fiona and Sue to visit with the blankets said:
“We were delighted to welcome Fiona and Sue from The Nightingale for their latest donation of hand knitted blankets for patients on our chemotherapy day unit and our podium ward. It was amazing to see that the time and effort that had gone into each of the blankets was so warmly received by patients and brought a smile to their faces. We are lucky to have such a caring and compassionate community in our local area who are always looking at ways to support each other in times of need.”
We have to say a big thank you to Mete and the whole team at the chemo ward and bedded unit and North Middlesex Hospital for inviting Fiona and Sue to visit. We are honoured they see the importance of the love, comfort and joy that Stitches of Support brings.
We look forward to our next visit to North Middlesex Hospital!
Stitches of Support have received over 15,000 squares and given out nearly 1,000 blankets in 3 years