Simon’s story

Simon has lived in Basingstoke for more than 36 years. During this time, he was a Science and IT teacher at Brighton Hill, Sherfield School and The King’s School.

In 2005, when Simon was 50, he was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) – a rare condition which affects the brain and nerves.  After being diagnosed, Simon became a patient at St. Michael’s Hospice – attending the Hospice’s MND clinic.

Before coming to the Hospice, Simon knew of it because it was the chosen charity of one of the Tutor Groups that Simon taught at school.

Simon’s been coming to the Hospice as a patient for 13 years, using the organisation’s Living Well Service and the MND Clinic. Simon has attended the MND Clinic since it first began. ‘I see professionals that know what they’re doing, the whole MND clinic are more than professional and go above and beyond. Everyone’s friendly and compassionate.’ Simon has also used many of the other services the Hospice provides including complementary therapies such as massages, aromatherapy, and yoga – all of which are designed to help relieve pain and stress caused by his condition.

‘I like coming to the MND clinic because I know I’m in a group of people who are all going through the same thing. That connection is nice. When someone new joins the group, I do my best to make sure they’re comfortable and happy. Coming into clinic feels like coming amongst friends, be they patient or professional, they’re part of the circuit that I engage with and draw strength from, I hope I bring strength to it too.’

When asked about his experience of the Hospice, Simon said, ‘I love it – I mean that. I’ve been coming here so long I feel like part of the furniture. I couldn’t speak highly enough of the knowledgeable staff.’

Simon takes full advantage of the breadth of services provided by the Hospice, including taking part in the 2023 Hawthorne Project. Ten children and ten patients met at the Hospice every week for four weeks. They began by meeting and pairing up, they were then tasked with creating an artistic masterpiece with their partner. At the end of the fourth week, parents were invited to come in and celebrate the artwork and relationships created during the project.

Simon said, ‘I loved it, the children were great! I usually have such low energy levels so I wasn’t going to do it. The prospect of 3 or 4 hours of intense engagement was daunting but with my wife we decided that Tuesday would be empty so that I could take part. In the event the engagement was two way and very calm.’ Simon agrees with another patient who said, ‘For those few hours, I was not a patient, I was a human being.'”