{"id":3237,"date":"2025-12-25T17:23:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T17:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/badvibes.live\/?p=3237"},"modified":"2025-12-25T17:23:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T17:23:16","slug":"i-spend-christmas-with-people-who-wont-live-to-see-another-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/badvibes.live\/?p=3237","title":{"rendered":"I spend Christmas with people who won\u2019t live to see another one"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u2018Working in\u00a0end of life care<\/a>\u00a0has taught me to be so grateful for my\u00a0health<\/a>\u00a0and happiness,\u2019 says Leaah Deans, 41.<\/p>\n

Every year, the mum-of-five leaves her family at\u00a0Christmas<\/a>\u00a0to head to the Marie Curie hospice she\u2019s worked at in Penarth for the past 20 years.<\/p>\n

\u2018My children have never known any different,\u2019 she tells\u00a0Metro<\/strong>. \u2018I\u2019ve always worked a Christmas shift, whether it\u2019s Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or\u00a0Boxing Day<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019s so important to me to make sure our patients have the best possible Christmas. It is sadly, in all likelihood, going to be their last.<\/p>\n

\u2018Every day in the hospice matters, but this time of year is especially poignant.\u2019<\/p>\n

The patients that Leeah cares for are\u00a0dying<\/a>, and have come to the Marie Curie Hospice, Cardiff and the Vale, for palliative care.<\/p>\n

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As a mum and step-mum, she leaves her family every year (Picture: Leaah Deans)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This means it\u2019s the teams\u2019 job to improve their patients\u2019 quality of life as best they can, by providing relief from the pain, stress and symptoms of serious illness.<\/p>\n

Leaah will look after families and loved ones too, because terminal illness has a ripple effect, impacting not just the patient alone.<\/p>\n

While Leah says that her husband, Leighton, 43, and older children, son Dominic, 22, stepson Cieran, 19, daughter Lacey, 18, and stepson Cody, 8, understand why she chooses to work over the festive period, her youngest, Tyler, six, finds it more difficult.<\/p>\n

\u2018Tyler has always struggled to see me go away at Christmas,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n

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Her son, Tyler, struggles when she leaves for work (Picture: Leaah Deans)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Last year was the first that he\u2019d really begun to understand it, and I remember his eyes filling with tears when he realised I wouldn\u2019t be able to tuck him into bed on Christmas Day.<\/p>\n

\u2018I know the kids miss me while I\u2019m at work and I miss them too. Christmas is a really difficult time to do my job, but that\u2019s why it\u2019s so important.\u2019<\/p>\n

Often, Leaah\u2019s patients also have young children who visit over the festive period.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s lovely to see families come together but so hard to watch little ones trying to be brave,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n

Leeah says that on the day itself, everyone at the hospice, from the kitchen and housekeeping teams to the nurses, go the extra mile to ensure it\u2019s an enjoyable day.<\/p>\n

She explains: \u2018There\u2019s the paperwork and personal care that is vital all year round, keeping meticulous documentation of each of our 18 patient\u2019s wellbeing, changing dressings, administering some medication and more importantly, being the first port of call for patients who need to talk and offload.<\/p>\n

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Leaah and her colleagues try to keep things festive on the ward (Picture: Leaah Deans)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018But at Christmas I like to go overboard. I organise stockings on every patient\u2019s beds, I make handmade paper snowflakes and hang Christmas ornaments all over the hospice.<\/p>\n

\u2018I also invite patients to write Christmas cards or make trinkets and gifts for their family, if they want to.<\/p>\n

\u2018The hospice organises for a Christmas choir and the cast of a local Christmas theatre show to come and sing and meet everyone too.\u2019<\/p>\n

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Leaah is a proud Marie Curie nurse (Picture: Leaah Deans)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One year, Leeah was even able to fulfil a special request for a patient.<\/p>\n

\u2018A man who had young children was desperate to see the Cardiff Castle Christmas lights show, so I organised his outing and wrapped fairy lights all around his wheelchair.<\/p>\n

\u2018He passed away not long after Christmas.\u2019<\/p>\n

Working at a hospice takes an emotional toll on Leeah.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s not common for patients to die on Christmas Day itself but it does happen and when it does, it\u2019s heartbreaking for their families and the team too. It never gets easier to witness a death,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n

\u2018I always finish my Christmas shift sitting in my car and having a little cry.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s hard to decompress and switch off when I get home, but the kids greet me with a big hug and our busy, lively household helps distract me.<\/p>\n

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Leahh and the team give presents to their pateitns (Picture: Leaah Deans)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Last year, I got home on Boxing Day to find that Tyler had made me mince pies and a drawing of our family by the Christmas tree, to welcome me home. He\u2019d drawn a nurse\u2019s hat on my head.\u2019<\/p>\n

Leaah says that, even after working at the hospice for two decades, she always questions whether she\u2019s done enough for her patients, but says she\u2019s \u2018determined\u2019 to make sure every family\u2019s last Christmas together is as good as can be in the circumstances.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Leaah says her job has taught her invaluable lessons about life and death.<\/p>\n

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She tries to make sure everyone has a special Christmas (Picture: Marie Curie)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Death happens and with it comes so much sadness and loss. But I don\u2019t want to turn away from it.<\/p>\n

\u2018I want to be part of the incredible team that makes sure everyone dies with dignity and if this is their last Christmas, that it\u2019s special.<\/p>\n

\u2018I feel so lucky. I have my health and when the day is over I can go back to my family. My children are happy and healthy and so are Leighton and I \u2014 it can be easy to forget that but when you are confronted by death as often as I am, you never take your life for granted.<\/p>\n

\u2018It wouldn\u2019t feel right to spend all of Christmas at home, knowing there are families facing the hardest, saddest times. I need to do what I can to sprinkle a little Christmas magic.\u2019<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Working in\u00a0end of life care\u00a0has taught me to be so grateful for my\u00a0health\u00a0and happiness,\u2019 says Leaah Deans, 41. Every year, the mum-of-five leaves her family at\u00a0Christmas\u00a0to head to the Marie Curie hospice she\u2019s worked at in Penarth for the past 20 years. \u2018My children have never known any different,\u2019 she tells\u00a0Metro. \u2018I\u2019ve always worked a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t