Bereaved husband calls on Marie Curie to continue their "vital service"

A grieving husband says he could not have coped with his wife's death without the help of Marie Curie nurses who are now facing the axe.

Widower Dave Stewart, 50, of Monson Road, Redhill, lost his beloved Françoise when she died of cancer on Wednesday, December 3 aged just 52.

MISSED: Dave Stewart with a picture of his late wife Francoise who was cared for by Marie Curie staff.
Family: Dave Stewart, pictured with his late wife Françoise and daughter Sara-Jeanne
SUPPORT: Francoise Stewart pictured the week before she died, surrounded by daughter Sara-Jeanne, brother Phillipe, his wife Nicole and their daughter Melanie.

And after the support given to him by staff at the Caterham Community Hospice in Harestone Drive, he wants bosses to reconsider cutting the service.

Mr Stewart said: "I can't praise Marie Curie's specialist team enough. They sat with me and my 16-year-old daughter, Sara-Jeanne, as my wife was dying.

"We could not have got through this without them. I can't believe they are now facing redundancy."

The specialist team of nurses and carers, whose jobs are now under threat, enabled Françoise to go home before she died.

"It was the scariest time of my life and Marie Curie staff just took charge.

"They knew what to say and do. And if it hadn't been for them, Françoise would have died in hospital. It was only because we had Marie Curie's support the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton agreed to discharge her."

Marie Curie chiefs are planning to close the hospice and day care centre as well as scrap other services including bereavement counselling at the end of March.

But since knowledge of the closure became public, patients, their families and healthcare professionals have all approached the Mirror to voice concerns and support for the staff facing redundancy.

Mr Stewart said his wife had come to England as an au pair aged just 18, and then gone into nursing before illness forced early retirement.

Initially diagnosed with breast cancer six years ago, the cancer spread to her liver, bones and brain. In 2007 she had two separate operations to remove brain tumours.

Mr Stewart said: "Marie Curie just got it right. They kept in touch in the early stages, and it was a comfort knowing they were there. Then, when my wife got worse, they just fully engaged. They made it clear they were there for as long as we needed them to be.

"They were utterly professional, but it felt like having friends in the house, even towards the end when Françoise couldn't talk and I was just sitting talking to her quietly in her final hours."