ALTHOUGH hospices are usually thought to provide care for the dying, many terminally ill people use East Lancashire Hospice for just a few weeks during a crisis until they are well enough to return home.

Virginia Thornton, a careers officer in Hyndburn, spent several weeks at the hospice. She was first diagnosed with breast cancer seven years ago when she was 49. Five years later, secondary cancers were found on her spine. Doctors told her it was incurable.

Her husband Rod, 56, said: "We knew she would eventually die from the secondary cancers but we used to make the best of whatever time we had. "

Rod gave up his job as a salesman to look after her in November 1996, but in May 1997 more complications set in and in June a Macmillan Nurse recommended she go into the hospice.

Rod said: "I was nursing her full time, but it was beyond me to look after her properly. She needed that specialist care and attention and treatment."

Virginia was suffering from a low blood count and nausea. Within two days her blood count stabilised. Staff worked to control the nausea, monitoring her constantly see how she reacted to the drugs.

Rod spent several hours a day with her. "We used to just watch television or do crosswords together, trying to make it as normal as possible," he said.

Their daughter Caroline Heap called in daily to help bathe her in the whirlpool bath and granddaughters Jenny and Rosie also visited. Rod said: "We got a lot of mental support from the nurses. They were always available to answer whatever questions you had."

Within three weeks, Virginia was well enough to return to their Queens Road West home, Accrington.

But a month later, Rod noticed that her memory was not as good. She struggled over the crossword, previously one of her favourite hobbies.

She was placed on steroids but collapsed and was rushed to Accrington Victoria Hospital. After four days in a coma, she began to recover again and was taken back to the East Lancashire Hospice. She could not walk, but a physiotherapist at the hospice worked with her to recover some use of her legs.

She was elated to return home but Rod knew she had deteriorated. The hospice arranged for nurses to sit with her on two occasions when Rod had to leave her. District nurses also visited daily.

Virginia died, aged 56, on August 15 at home. Friends and relatives gave £500 to the hospice and Macmillan Nurses. Rod said: "I wouldn't like people to think about the hospice that you go in there and you never come out. It improved her quality of life, it's not just a place to die."

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