Tracy, her family and friends raise funds for Ambulance Wish in Bruce’s memory
For Tracy, there still aren’t enough words to adequately describe her late husband, Bruce; an “incredible, kind and loving man who thought of everyone else’s needs before his own”.
The Ambulance Wish SA team had been working with Bruce, his loved ones and his palliative care team to plan Bruce’s Ambulance Wish, which was simply to spend time in his home with his bull mastiff x staffy dog, Diva. Sadly, Bruce died before his wish was fulfilled, however, his family and the palliative care staff have all described how the experience of planning his wish provided beautiful conversations, giving Bruce the opportunity to reminisce about times spent with Diva, as well as a welcome distraction for Bruce and his loved ones in his last days.
“Wish Recipients of our Ambulance Wish SA program are under the expert care of palliative care teams and while we are able to fulfill a wish rapidly, it’s always guided by the Wish Recipient and how they feel on the day if they would like to go ahead – this program is all about them and for them. The wish team was sad that Bruce’s Wish wasn’t fulfilled, yet we have been inspired to learn about the positive impact of the planning aspect of the program – as experts in palliative care ourselves, we have created a program which is much more than a ‘transport service’, we ensure that each wish is tailor-made to the individual person – creating memories that last forever, and we are delighted to hear from Tracy about the beautiful memories that the wish planning process created.” Adjunct Associate Professor Shyla Mills, CEO Palliative Care SA (Ambulance Wish SA is a program of Palliative Care SA).
The positive impact continues. This positive experience with the Ambulance Wish SA program inspired an exceptional act of generosity from Bruce’s family and friends, who collected $2,000 to Sponsor an Ambulance Wish for someone else in the future. “While this program is free to access, on average each wish costs us $2000. Thank you Kylie, Tracy, Tanya and Catherine who kindly travelled to our Palliative Care SA office to present a cheque in memory of their much-loved Bruce. They are our first family of fundraisers to join together and support the Ambulance Wish SA program.” Said Mills.
And their generosity doesn’t stop there. Other members of Bruce’s loved ones – Chloe and Mark – have walked 155 km walk from Adelaide to Wallaroo, raising funds for Ambulance Wish SA. And if walking 155 km wasn’t already challenging enough, Chloe and Mark completed the walk in 48 hours! Visit Chloe and Marks GoFundMe page here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/155km-walk-in-48-hours-to-raise-money-for-ambulance-sa-wish
Visit Ambulance Wish SA if you are interested in joining a growing fundraising community to create more memories which last forever.
L-R Kylie, Tracy (with “Pete” the AWSA Bear), Tanya and Catherine presenting a cheque to PCSA CEO, Shyla (Centre)
2nd Image: Bruce
