Will you help care for someone too sick to go home this Christmas?

Your compassion will mean so much to patients spending Christmas on our cancer ward.

“We’ll get you home to your boy…”

Even as I said it, it was a promise I hoped I could keep.

Brian had an aggressive form of cancer. He’d been through so much — months of invasive treatment, the ups and downs, the hope and despair.

All he wanted was to be able to go home and watch the Late Late Toy Show with his son… he knew even then it could be the last time.

My name’s Liadan. I’m a nurse on the Mater’s cancer ward, and I’m grateful for a few minutes of your time today.

I’ve never been asked to write something like this before, but I know the very real difference your kindness makes to our patients… especially at Christmas.

And there are patients with us right now who I know in my heart won’t be able to go home to their families.

They’re just too sick to leave the hospital — even for a day.

Please, will you rush your gift today and help care for some of the sickest people in Ireland this Christmas?

Your gift can make Christmas special for someone…

Liadan – Cancer Nurse, St Vincent’s Cancer and Haematology Ward, The Mater Hospital

I wish you could see the lengths we go to here. We try and get as many patients as possible stable enough to go home for Christmas. That sometimes means doing blood transfusions on Christmas Eve itself.

But it’s worth it if it means even one more person gets to spend what may well be their very last Christmas at home — wrapped in a circle of their family’s love.

Brian did get home to watch the Toy Show with his little lad.

And you can imagine how those magical hours were more precious to him and his family than all the world’s gold.

But some patients are simply too unwell to go home for Christmas.

Patients like Danny…

Oh, you’d have loved him.

All of us on the ward adored him. He was absolutely gas, your classic Dubliner.

And no matter how sick he got, cancer couldn’t break his spirit.

He kept a framed photo of his little white dog, Daisy, by his bed.

He called her ‘his girl’, and he’d show her off like a doting Dad to anyone who stood still long enough.

We were so desperate to get him home — home to ‘his girl’ — but despite our efforts, he was here with us on Christmas Day.

Like Danny, every patient myself and my fellow nurses are looking after this Christmas are incredibly sick.

Please, will you give today and help us go over and above to make Christmas special for someone like Danny?

For some of our patients, this Christmas will be their last Christmas.

That’s why I’m really hoping I can count on your kindness again today. If you could see the tears of joy and gratitude in our patient’s eyes for the meaningful moments you make possible, I know you’d want to help. Your love today could provide for —

• The pull-out bed so family can stay close in their loved ones final days…
• The mercy of a mini-fridge to store the one single food a cancer patient can stomach…
• Or even the little gift left at the end of a patient’s bed on Christmas morning…

Not only will your kindness today help provide the very best of care for people like Danny, too sick to go home. Your love will give genuine moments of joy and human connection to people fighting for their lives this Christmas.

Every little bit of love today makes a difference. Please say you’ll rush your gift as soon as you can.

Our Cancer Nurses on St. Vincent’s Ward spread the Christmas cheer.

Let me tell you about last Christmas. It was a tough one.

I remember arriving to work on Christmas morning to the heartbreaking news that one of our beautiful patients had died during the night.

You might think that’s expected on a cancer ward. But it was sudden.

His wife and grown-up children were due to come and spend the day with him.

You can imagine their shock and heartbreak and grief on Christmas morning. They thought they had more time.

He was only 57.

His wife kept saying, “I don’t know what to do now. I don’t know what he’d want.”

Later on, we found a notepad in his room where he’d written down his last wishes, down to the flowers he wanted at his funeral — white lilies.

To be honest, I didn’t know if I’d include this. But I’m grateful I can be honest with you about the realities of our cancer ward at Christmas.

Because you’re someone who understands how precious time becomes when it’s short. You understand the profound meaning in every moment of love and joy and human kindness. And that’s what you can give to people and families spending Christmas on our cancer ward. So I ask you —

Please, if you can, will you give a gift today, and help provide the very best care and moments of genuine joy and humanity to people too sick to go home this Christmas?

If you’re struggling yourself this Christmas, I understand. I don’t ever want your generosity to the Mater to be a burden for you. But if you are able to give this Christmas, any donation, large or small, makes such a big difference here.

Myself and my fellow nurses will be forever grateful to you for every bit of love you can send this Christmas?

Thank you for the gift of your time today and for being someone who cares.

Nurse Liadan

Cancer Nurse, St Vincent’s Cancer and Haematology Ward,
The Mater Hospital

Thank you for being the heart of our hospital and for giving what you can.