He married after graduating, became a father in 1950, and in 1966 moved the family to Sunderland.
In 1992, Steve was experiencing health problems and he suspected prostate cancer, which was confirmed following an acute hospital admission. Steve told us about the practical and social implications of managing a catheter, the progress of his disease, its treatment and his experience of hospice day care.
What is your experience of St Benedict’s hospice and the palliative care services?
"Oh, it’s a wonderful place, is the hospice. It was recommended by the district nurse. I told her that I thought my wife was getting rather strained, having to do all the things I used to do … well not all, many of the things I used to do about the house. And being, being rather confined herself about what she could do. [It was] difficult for her to go away as she sometimes would, as I did of course as well."
"And I thought we were both getting strained, so she said, ‘Well why don’t you come to the hospice?’ At first I was a little bit reluctant to come to the hospice. I thought, ‘Well, you know, that’s only for the poor.’ Well, poverty being relative of course, I’ve been poor as well, naturally. But anyway I came and it turned out to be absolutely wonderful."
"The staff are absolutely superb, across the top to the bottom, everybody. And it stops the wife and I getting under each other’s feet, so we’re glad to see each other when I go back. There’s no praise I would withhold from …"
