Bronagh’s Story

Bronagh loved life, she loved her family and her friends, she loved reading and anyone who knew her knew she loved her fashion. Bronagh was a wonderful person; warm, outgoing, with a great sense of humour and loved by generations of pupils at the primary schools where she worked for almost 30 years.

Bronagh was also a devoted wife, a mother and nanny to our family, and we were blessed to have her in our lives.

When she was 20 years old, she married our dad Eugene, and started her own family. They were young parents and became young grandparents. This is something we are so grateful for as it meant our children got to know their nanny and she got to love them.

At the start of this year, mum became unwell and was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and we knew her illness would be a short one. Our entire family were devastated but we were determined to care for her, it was our privilege to look after her just as she had done for us all her life. We cared for her at home but as her illness progressed, we knew that she needed more support and Hospice was mentioned to us for the first time.

Honestly, we were initially hesitant to have her cared for anywhere but at home, but we also realised that the Hospice was the best place for her. As a family, we were immediately embraced with warmth, in a private atmosphere much like homelife, but surrounded by all the support, compassion and care we needed. Hospice care gave us all the time to be with mum and each other, to talk and say all the things we needed to and to recall cherished moments and recount our lives together. These memories are so important to us now.

As we said mum loved her style and even in the Hospice, she still had a great interest in fashion – offering her advice to a young nurse she had gotten to know and who had her graduation coming up – in her opinion the red dress was the one to wear!

We stayed with her most of the time, which isn’t easy with young children at home, so the gardens of the Hospice became a haven for them. They felt close to their nanny and called up to the windows to her so that she would know they were there. Mum passed away a few hours after their visit, it was as if she had waited for them and that gives us great comfort, and it means so much to us all that the children remember their beloved nanny in a place of calm and beauty.

Southern Area Hospice is a place that will always hold a special place in our hearts. Our dad who is not usually a man of sentiment, was so moved by our time with mum there that he wrote a poem for us called “The Secret Hotel”.

“Then the time came for leaving, we said our last goodbyes.
We were sad to be leaving, but we left with a smile”

This will be our first Christmas without mum, and we will be dedicating a light on the Hospice Christmas tree to her. She was the light of our lives, and we know she will be shining down on all of us not just at Christmas, but forever.

This story has been shared with the consent of the family.