Komal and her cousins have taken on the Summer Wolf Run at Stanford Hall in memory of their grandmother, Yashodaben Patel, known as Ba, who was cared for by Birmingham Hospice. The family grew up in Selly Park near our hospice site, and attended community events for the hospice as children. After experiencing our care first hand when she was looked after in her own home at the end of her life, they’ve now taken on this challenge and raised an incredible amount, totalling over £4,000.
Komal told us about the special impact her grandmother had on the family. She said: “She was a really generous, strong lady. She raised all us grandchildren. She came over from Uganda to the UK when she was very young and had young children, and laid the foundations for our family here. Everything that we have is because of her and what she did.
“She worked incredibly hard, working several jobs to get the money to open up shops and keep expanding. She helped her children set up their own businesses… Now we can say that we all live comfortably, because she and our parents worked very hard. I lived with her for part of my life – she brought me up as my parents had to be working. Two of my cousins, Jay and Khushi, lived with her for their whole life. There were three generations in that house and they don’t know a life without her, so for them that’s a huge motivation [for the Wolf Run]. She was a mother figure to everybody really. She was very spiritual as well, and did a lot of volunteering at the temple in Hall Green.”
Komal reflected on the care provided by the hospice, telling us: “The hospice did so much for us when we didn’t know where to go. My grandma had been in and out of hospital quite a lot – she had heart failure, and with age comes all different health problems. When the hospital said she needed end of life care, they asked if she wanted to be in a hospice or cared for at home. We said we wanted her to be at home, and from the beginning the support from the hospice was great.
“One of the doctors and a Clinical Nursing Specialist, Gemma, came out on home visits when she was really poorly. They were out to assess her needs and give us advice within 24 hours of us calling – as well as the medical side, it was also the emotional support for my grandad. Gemma must have sat with us for an hour, and was really kind to my grandma when she was struggling to communicate. Before she got poorly, her English was amazing, but as she deteriorated, she would only communicate in Gujarati. The only times I saw her communicate well in English were when she was talking to the nurses – she really appreciated the kindness they showed her, and we could tell from her responses.
“There was a situation where I was very upset as I was driving back and forth from Leicester every day. In the final week, I was due to fly to India but decided I’d stay with her. I spoke to Gemma at the door, who knew how much it meant for me to be there with my grandma. It would’ve broken everyone’s hearts if we weren’t there with her at the final moments. Gemma said ‘I can see how strong you all are together – if you want to be close to her when it happens, then don’t go’. So we cancelled the trip, and Grandma passed away within four days of that. By some miracle, every member of the family was there. The team’s expertise in what they see every day and what they pick up on is incredible. She just knew so well what these end of life patients are going through. It was very different to generic hospital care – they have so many people there with different health problems, but the hospice were more involved. It was all about Grandma and tailored to her, which felt very special.”
Jigna, Komal’s sister, shared: “You could see that the care was really from the heart;,
The family have raised an amazing amount from fundraising, carrying on their grandmother’s legacy, who took on sponsored walks for charity almost every year. Komal told us: “We’ve been going crazy on social media and posting a lot on there. When everything happened with my grandma, we were posting details about when she passed away and the funeral. Because we’re quite a tight-knit community, people were already following her story. Everybody knew her;,
“This is the first time a lot of my cousins put themselves out there to do something that’s totally out of their comfort zones – they were just so excited and nervous. They thought ‘of all things, you’ve chosen a mud run’ – but I think if we’re doing it for charity, it has to be challenging. It shows how strongly we feel about it. They would never have done it for anyone else.
“We had some bruises the next day! There are some really tight tunnels full of mud that you have to army crawl your way through on your front or back – it bashes every part of you. We finished it in an hour and a half.
“My favourite part was overcoming the most dreaded part when we started – it was a 25 foot climbing wall on ropes. You had to get to the top and get down the other side, and I got stuck. I’m scared of heights anyway, and the marshal was trying to get me to come down. You had to put both legs over while holding onto the rope. So overcoming that was my favourite bit!”
20 family members in total came out to support Komal and the team – it was a great opportunity for the family to get together, as they now live all around the country in Croydon, Bristol, Leicester and Birmingham.
“I feel really proud. We knew early on we wanted to do something so we signed up a year in advance, and it was fun that we could all do it together – and special for my grandad to watch us doing something nice for my grandma, because she did so much for everyone.”
The team’s fantastic total was helped by matched funding from two of the cousins’ workplaces, HSBC and Vaultex.
Komal’s advice for anyone wanting to take on a fundraiser is: “Just jump in. just sign up, and everything will fall into place. More people should do it – we didn’t realise hospices only get a fraction of government funding. You might be scared, but once you commit to it you’ve just got that motivation.”
