A Dundee mother has told how she became a carer for terminally ill people as figures show that more than 1,300 people who die in the city require palliative care.
Fran Beaton, who started out as a Marie Curie volunteer, has spoken out ahead of the charity’s annual Great Daffodil Appeal.
On average, 1,360 people die of terminal diseases every year in Dundee and of those, 87.3% spend the last six months of their life at home or in a community setting.
Fran, 51, is one of the workers who make sure those people live out the remainder of their lives in dignity.
She said: “I had quite personal reasons for getting involved with the charity.
“I lost my dad 30 years ago. He died at home but back then there wasn’t the support that you get now, or at least we weren’t aware of it. It’s very rewarding to now be able to offer that support to people.
“To begin with I was raising money as a volunteer for Marie Curie, but then a job came up and I applied.”
Fran had trained as a nurse 34 years ago, but her registration lapsed when she took time out from her career to raise her three children, who are now aged 21, 16 and 15.
She came back to work as a healthcare assistant for Marie Curie in September.
Fran added: “Being at home at the end, close to the people and things that make you feel most comfortable, is what most of us would want at the end of life.
“You are there for people – you get to know the whole family and you support people both physically and emotionally.”
A total of 56 Marie Curie collections are planned throughout Perthshire, Tayside and Angus, running from February 16 to March 31 as part of the Great Daffodil Appeal.
These will be held in areas including shopping centres, supermarkets and workplaces and usually involve someone wearing a bright yellow top hat and tabard, selling yellow daffodil lapel pins.
The charity is encouraging people to sign up to sell the daffodil pins.
To sign up, log on to www.mariecurie.org.uk/daffodil
