Anna's story

After being admitted to the hospice for a few weeks of respite, Anna is relieved to have her pain under control. She is sitting up in bed, smiling. She shows off her newly painted nails and admits that she is feeling so much better than when she arrived, that she really does not want to leave.

“I have never, ever been so well looked after and cared for in all my life!

It’s wonderful here. I always have company. And the food is incredible – you should see the meals that the chefs Delia and Papi make for me. I’ve had Tiramisu, chocolate, and everything with flowers and decorations!”

But despite her positivity, Anna is anxious about what may lay ahead for her and that she may not get to see the arrival of her first grandchild this September. 

“I discovered my cancer in the most casual way in December 2021. It was the first in a number of years that I had been able to go back to Italy for the Christmas holidays to enjoy it with my family. I am still friends with my Italian doctor, and I went to wish her a happy Christmas. My doctor told me, “Anna, I don’t like your colour. You look too pale”. I thought I was just tired because I had a busy job with a lot of responsibilities and I had just moved house. I had been noticing, though, that I did look tired and I was worried. Just the previous July I had done tests that had all been fine, but I had more tests done in Italy and, on 23 December, they called me back. They repeated the tests three times to be sure. My colon was full of growths. It was cancer. Unbelievable. I had had none of the usual symptoms and now it was too late. It was shocking. In just five minutes my life was turned upside down”. 

Anna remained in Italy for six months, undergoing intense colon surgery. Back in the UK she had a summer of chemotherapy while trying to carry on with her adapted working life. She later lost 70% of her liver during further surgery and still her troubles did not end there. “They discovered a problem with my kidney. My cancer is mutational and aggressive and every time the cancer starts to recognise the drugs, they need to be changed”.

Fortunately for Anna, she has had many passions in life, and although unable to participate in them now, they still help her to find a way to escape the realities of her illness. Having graduated as a Doctor of Architecture (DArch) in 1988, Anna has had a lifetime of experiences working in different cities, on design history, furnishings, planning and composition, conservative renovation and recycling, restoration of monuments, constructions, interior design and property renovation. And she did all her training before the advent of computers which means she is still able to design and create in her mind’s eye, when just looking at an empty space. This ability to draw on and keep enjoying her previous experiences also applies to her more physical pastimes of dancing and trekking.

“I started my interest in trekking when I was eighteen years old and trekked on the mountains for more than 30 years of my life. I was a student at the University of Architecture in Abruzzo. The Abruzzo is an incredible region in the middle of Italy full of mountains. It was an amazing sport because I had the opportunity to become confident with nature in a different way. One of my strengths, when I am really sick, is to close my eyes and remember the magical world I crossed on foot among animals and natura. A real-life lesson, believe me. 

“In one way I feel very lucky because with this cancer I have discovered a lot of beautiful people. The supportive people who work in this sector, they are very involved and they always do their best for you. Particularly when you are alone like me because my family are all in Italy. London is a big city and many of my friends are far away, so my social life has been reducing. We are connected on the phone but here there are people in front of you, face to face and I feel lucky.

“At the start of last August, I finished my round of chemo but by the end of August they found a growth that was 6cm long. I was told that the drugs aren’t working any more. After it was decided to stop everything but the morphine, it was suggested that I switch to radiotherapy and palliative care but the pain with the radiotherapy has been too much. One night I was sleeping and experiencing such sharp waves of pain”.

The hospice has been able to make Anna feel comfortable again. “For now, my pain is better. My blood pressure has stopped peaking, my stoma is working perfectly and I am well enough to go home. But I have decided that when the time comes, I want to be here. This is my hope. I don’t want to be home alone and scared. Here is paradise”.