Man offers to pay nurse's salary for two years to thank her for caring for mum
A son was so impressed by the care received at a hospice by his dying mother he has offered to pay a nurse her whole salary for two years.
Jean Phillips, from St Brides in Newport, was cared for at St David’s Hospice by nurse Faye Russell-Jones for three weeks before she died on March 17 this year.
Son Wayne Phillips and his wife Tracy were so taken aback with the palliative care Jean received at their home in Bassaleg in Newport they felt compelled to make a significant contribution to the hospice.
As well as a donation worth an initial £10,000 they will also fund Faye’s whole salary until 2025.
Wayne and Tracy Phillips with mum Jean (right in lilac) and Wayne's three sisters (St David's Hospice Care / SWNS)Mr Phillips told WalesOnline : “The care my mother received from the hospice and in particular from Faye was truly astounding.
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“Thankfully the GP suggested we contact St David’s and from the moment nurse Faye walked through our door our lives, especially that of my mother, changed.
“We were frightened, we were scared. We knew we needed help and didn’t know which way to turn.
“We’d been stressing that we were doing things wrong and that mum was suffering even more as a result. You begin to doubt yourself. It’s terrifying.
“But after five or 10 minutes Faye had taken stock of the situation and knew what was required. Over the time Faye was with us we became firm friends.
“My mother, who could be quite stubborn and uncooperative and especially if she didn’t take to a person, immediately warmed to Faye.
“It was as if a light had gone on.”
Clinical Nurse Specialist Faye Russell-Jones (Ollie Barnes / SWNS)Mr Phillips added he and his wife had thought about what they could do for the hospice, which is free for its 3,200 patients a year, when they learned how it relied on donations.
He added: ““We thought the hospice was part of the NHS, never did we think the service was largely paid for by donations and fundraising. We didn’t realise it was free.
“It was quite a shock to realise everything they did for us was free. It made us think we wanted to show our appreciation and to continue our support by becoming a sponsor of a nurse.
“We told mum we were going to make a donation and even as she was dying she turned to me and said ‘you will make that donation to the hospice won’t you?’
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“She was lucid and fully coherent right until the end and knew how hard and passionately the staff had worked for her.”
Clinical nurse specialist Faye, 29 said she was “so grateful to Wayne and Tracy for their extremely generous donation”.
Hospice CEO Emma Saysell said: “[I was] overwhelmed by the kindness shown by Wayne and Tracy Phillips.
“Clinical salaries make up a huge part of the hospice expenditure every year and we are so pleased that Wayne and Tracy are the first people ever to fully sponsor a nurse.
“We are very humbled."
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