When Murray Drake thinks of his wife Ginny, he remembers a kind-hearted woman whom he spent 23 years of his life beside.
Ginny passed away a year ago, in the care of Nelson Tasman Hospice after a two-year battle with cancer.
This year, Murray hangs his first decoration in memory of Ginny as part of Hospice’s Trees of Remembrance campaign.
A Christmas tradition for hospices around the world, Trees of Remembrance has been running in the Nelson Tasman region for 20 years.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity, primarily for people at Christmas time, to write a card and put it on the trees to remember a loved one who won’t be with us this Christmas,” says hospice philanthropy coordinator Georgia Ciaran.
Georgia say more than 1000 memorial decorations are placed on the trees each Christmas.
Each one is treated as taonga and are all gathered together at the end, cremated at hospice and spread through the gardens by the chaplin.
“They’re treated with respect, it’s a very emotional time for people and staff. To read the messages on some of the cards ... it’s such a nice thing to be a part of.”
Last year the campaign raised $36,000 which Georgia says is vital to filling the $3million funding gap that hospice must fill each year to continue providing its services to the region.
Murray says, until you actually have to make use of the facility you can’t really understand how important the service is.
“I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been able to cope if I hadn’t had the hospice here.
“It’s one of the worst things you do have to go through in life, to watch a loved one pass.
“Having people like Georgia and Barb at the front desk, who are just amazing when you first walk in the door, the nurses that come round to your house, they all give you so much support.”
Murray said his journey with hospice has turned him into one of their biggest advocates.
“When you see the actual work that they do here, the amount of support that they gave Ginny, it was in my mind world class, it was unbelievable what they did for her.”
He says it was thanks to hospice that Ginny was able to pass at home.
“She was at home when she passed, they made that happen for us which was really special.”
He says he now looks at hospice staff like they are part of the family, much like his work family at Fire and Emergency NZ’s Nelson Station.
“I got looked after incredibly well by my colleagues and management.
“Those family group support things are really critical when you’re going through something like this.”
He encourages anyone writing their own memorial card to leave a donation if able.
“It’s a small price for this amazing service.”
Trees of Remembrance are located at Farmers Nelson and Richmond (now-24 Dec), New World Nelson and Stoke (3-10 Dec), Richmond Mall (3-10 Dec), Motueka House of Travel (15-17 and 20-23 Dec), Eclectic Antiques (6 Dec- 9 Jan).
