DAISY'S DREAM FILM

Newbury Today

A Newbury family share their story of how Daisy's Dream helped them through the toughest time of their lives. The film, made by a Newbury film maker, has been entered into The Smiley Charity Film Awards. You can vote for it here - https://smileycharityfilmawards.com/films/the-wilsons-story - to ensure they get through to the finals.

Transcript

00:00I don't know what I would have done without Daisy's dream.

00:08From the moment they picked up the phone call to say that my husband had two weeks left

00:14to live, I instantly felt so much relief and for me as a parent that just guided me through

00:22the first six months of Paul dying.

00:30So I met Paul when I was 21 and we hit it off straight away.

00:35We got married a few years later and a year after we got married our first daughter Poppy

00:41was born.

00:46We just loved being new parents and we knew that we wanted another one quite soon after.

00:53So 16 months later our second daughter Annabelle was born and then we wanted to grow our family

01:01so we decided to have another baby so we had our third daughter Holly, she was born a few

01:06years later.

01:15And then four years after that we had our fourth daughter Georgie.

01:24I always remember standing in my grandfather's kitchen when Georgie was six months old and

01:32he said, oh so how are things going Sarah and I said, oh amazing life has just reached

01:37perfection and we've got four perfect daughters, life is pretty perfect.

01:48And then literally a month after that Paul started complaining of a cough, he had a bit

01:56of a persistent cough and a few months later he decided to go to the GP and get checked

02:02out.

02:04Within 24 hours he was sent for a CT scan and the CT scan unfortunately showed a mass

02:11within his chest wall so from there on in our world changed overnight.

02:20He was straight into hospital for biopsies and within a few days they told us that Paul

02:26had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma which is a blood cancer.

02:33We had a book about lymphoma and Paul came home from the hospital, sat the older two

02:38on his lap and we talked briefly about what lymphoma was.

02:44Cancer didn't necessarily mean death but it wasn't going to be easy, he had to embark

02:49on chemotherapy and we were just going to take each day at a time.

02:57There were lots of bumps along the way, Paul responded well initially at first to his chemotherapy

03:03and unfortunately he had a bowel perforation where he was in intensive care for six weeks

03:09and that was really hard for the children.

03:12They were coming into hospital most days, weren't you, to come and see daddy?

03:21Paul did come out of intensive care, he made a really good recovery, he was able to come

03:27home and embark on some more chemotherapy.

03:30We went on some lovely holidays in that time and we really made the most of being a family.

03:42Then unfortunately, 16 months after Paul's diagnosis, he got really poorly and went into

03:50hospital and it was at that point that we found out that the cancer had spread to Paul's

03:57pancreas, kidneys, brain and the haematologist sat me down in a side room and said actually

04:05Paul has got two weeks left to live.

04:13At that point, I'd heard about the charity Daisy's Dream, I think it was about half an

04:19hour after we were told Paul had two weeks left to live that I called Daisy's Dream up.

04:25Somebody picked up the phone straight away, which I'm eternally grateful for, and I just

04:31blurted out, you know, he's got two weeks left to live, how do I tell my children?

04:39They were very calm on the phone and talked me through it all and said that you have to

04:44just be very matter of fact.

04:47I felt like I just needed to tell them straight away, so I said, come upstairs, we all jumped

04:53on the bed together and I sat them all down and I said, you know, mummy's got something

04:58to tell you.

05:06I was just reliving that bit.

05:10I never really go back to it.

05:24I was probably making a phone call to Daisy's Dream every other day, they said just call

05:29us, keep us updated.

05:33One of the things the girls did ask is when daddy dies, could we be there, and that threw

05:38me, so I called Daisy's Dream and just ran it past them and they said of course, don't

05:44feel that, you know, it's important that they don't feel that they're shut out from this.

05:49Paul woke up a few hours before he died and he said he was in a bit of pain and that perhaps

05:56we should call somebody and I called an ambulance to come and see him and you'd woken up, I

06:03think, with all the sort of commotion and Poppy had woken up, the other two were asleep

06:07and you said, oh, is this it now?

06:09And I said, yeah, daddy's dying and you said, well, can I come in and see him?

06:13So knowing that I'd spoken to Daisy's Dream and I'd spoken to her and I'd spoken to the

06:18family, so knowing that I'd spoken to Daisy's Dream and them saying that it was okay for

06:22them to be there, I felt, yeah, that was the most natural thing to have the girls in there,

06:28in our bedroom when he died and it was, as deaths go, it was lovely, you know, we were

06:34all around him and actually now, seven years on, when I speak to you and Poppy, you're

06:40really pleased that you were there.

06:42Yeah.

06:43I think that's helped with your grief and moving forward.

06:47It definitely gives you closure, I suppose.

06:49Yeah, yeah, so I'm really pleased that I sort of sought advice from Daisy's Dream about

06:57that because it's really helped us as a family move forward.

07:03When I was younger, obviously no one really at primary school had ever lost a parent,

07:19so I tried to speak to them about it but they never really got it and I dealt with it very

07:25differently to my siblings as well, like I was quite angry about it.

07:29So speaking to people at Daisy's Dream, like they really validated my feelings and like

07:35made me know that it was normal, which I think helped me in the long run especially.

07:40So we at Daisy's Dream support children and young people and their families who are facing

07:49bereavement or who have been bereaved.

07:52Our key work is providing one-to-one support for children and young people, group work,

07:59which is really important, telephone support for, mostly that's for parents, other professionals

08:09and we offer training to schools as well.

08:13Obviously the fundraising is a big part of our work as well.

08:18Without that and without our community support, we couldn't do any of our work.

08:27From the moment that Daisy's Dream picked up the phone call, they were absolutely amazing,

08:33such a lifeline for me and I just don't know that we would be in such a great position

08:39as we are now without all of their support and guidance.

08:43They were absolutely amazing and we're so lucky to have heard about them and to have

08:49had their support.

09:14Daisy's Dream

09:18www.daisydream.org

Category

Transcript

Recommended