Les, 70, came to the hospice on end of life care, after being diagnosed with Mesothelioma.

“In May 2018, I was struggling with an ongoing cough.  I saw an advert of the TV which said ‘if you’ve had a cough for more than 3 weeks you should go see your doctor’.

When I went to see them, I had to go for tests which resulted in finding a shadow on my lung. They asked if I had ever worked with asbestos, which I had, but not for 45 years. I used to work with the break linings, but didn’t have to wear a mask as I was told by the time it got to me it would be fine. But I wasn’t, and I was diagnosed with Mesothelioma.

After this, a Macmillan nurse came round to check on me and help me sorted everything. Me and my wife bought a bungalow, but just before Christmas I had to have surgery to drain fluid from around my heart.

Not long after, I was struggling with mucus in my chest, which was the size of a tennis ball. We called 111 and the ambulance came. When I was at the hospital I got told there was nothing else they could do for me, and that I was on end of life care.

I had a chest infection, which they gave me antibiotics for, but after the third time they said I couldn’t have any more. The Macmillan nurse came out last Tuesday and asked how I wanted to die, and if I had ever considered a hospice.

I was lying in bed one morning and I thought about my wife waking up to me dead. I didn’t want her to have to do that, and she agreed. Therefore, I decided a hospice was the best place for me. That afternoon I was taken to Teesside Hospice.

At first I was apprehensive, but I can’t have asked for anything better. The hospice has given me a new lease of life.

I am going home, and I cannot wait. My wife also wants me to come home. We have a spare room and we’re going to get a hospital bed to make it more comfortable for me. I haven’t decided whether I want to come back to the hospice to die yet, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

I cannot thank the hospice more, they’ve been amazing.”