A cancer survivor who lost her father to an aggressive form of the illness has paid tribute to a touching gesture from staff at a Derry charity after his death.
Elaine Simpson was one of thousands of women who took part in the female walk/run for Foyle Hospice earlier this month.
Her father John Lynch passed away at Foyle Hospice in April.
Read more: Derry woman in tribute to 'amazing' mum who 'loved life' after charity effort
Elaine, who is a cancer survivor herself, paid tribute to the care shown by staff at the Hospice where her “gentle giant” father spent his final days – and described a moving final gesture following his sad death earlier this year.
“I will always remember the staff asking for a minute to sort daddy out after he passed – they laid him out with two daffodils on the pillow next to him,” she said.
“He looked so peaceful with no pain or strain of the last 12 weeks showing on his face anymore.
“That for me was enough to know he was finally at peace.”
John, who was retired, had worked in the DuPont chemical plant on the outskirts of Derry for 25 years.
After having no obvious symptoms or pain, John developed a very aggressive form of bile duct cancer which spread throughout his body including his gallbladder and liver.
Elaine said: “My daddy loved the craic - although he wasn't very good at showing his emotions, he was dearly loved by his family and friends who thought the world of him, even though he made it clear his real loves in life were rugby and fishing!”
Describing his illness, she said: “Daddy took sick in the middle of January - his only symptom was that his skin had begun to turn yellow and the doctors confirmed it was jaundiced.
“The following afternoon the GP rang and advised that we take daddy straight to A&E for further investigation as his liver function and kidney function were off the scale.
Further investigations revealed the extent of his illness.
“From this point on daddy went downhill very quickly - he lost his mobility, he was bed bound within a few weeks, he stopped eating, went in and out of consciousness a lot and he needed insulin to control his diabetes – he just deteriorated very quickly before our eyes and the results seemed to take forever,” Elaine said.
She said the family knew in their hearts they would not be delivered good news. She said: “Unfortunately our worst fears were confirmed - the cancer daddy had was untreatable, they would do their best to keep him comfortable and we could spend as much time as we wanted with him on the ward.
“The staff on the ward were first class, they couldn't do enough for us but we just didn't feel daddy was getting the dignified end-of-life care he deserved.
“This is where the Hospice came in.”
She continued: “We spoke to the palliative care team to see if this would be a possibility for daddy.
“We spent some very valuable time with him that weekend as a family and were able to bring his three grandsons over for a short visit which meant the world to us.
“His extended family and friends were also able to visit.
She added: “The care and compassion shown from every member of staff was first class.
The staff kept us up to date with how daddy was doing and progressing through the end-of-life stages.
“They advised us how to comfort him and say goodbye.
“On behalf of the Lynch family thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”
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