Sandra Mills

Exemplary Care Inspires Gift to Hospital

Sandra Mills lost her mother, Georgina Munro, to a rare neurological disease last summer. The exemplary care her mother received at the end of her life inspired Sandra to make a generous bequest to London Health Sciences Foundation and write a letter to our Hospital.

This is her story.

To: London Health Sciences Foundation

Enclosed find the completed form you requested. I would like you to know the reason for my bequest.

In June 2009, my mother, Georgina Munro, was a patient at University Hospital campus. Her last days were spent in the Palliative Care Unit. Not only did the nurses and doctors provide support and care for my mother, but they also cared for the family.

Shortly after her arrival, a team of medical specialists gathered the family together to discuss my mother's condition, finally diagnosed as Progressive Supra-nuclear Palsy. We made the decision to withhold life-sustaining equipment and medication when it became clear that she had no chance of recovery. She was treated with pain medication until she died on June 21st, 2009.

During the last week of her life, though she was unconscious, the medical staff treated her with dignity and respect, talking to her as though she was wide awake. This touched my heart. One day I mentioned that my mother's hair was always perfectly coiffed and it was sad to see it otherwise. Lo and behold, when I arrived to visit the next day, her hair had been washed and brushed. This act of kindness by the palliative care nurse was above and beyond the call of duty.

I could cite many more acts of kindness, but suffice it to say, I will never forget the compassion shown to my mother, the gentle touch or an arm around my shoulder from medical staff, one who even shed a tear with me when I could not hold it together. They were the light in my darkness.

Thank you so much.

Sandra Mills