TV design guru Justin Ryan on how hospice care helped his mother’s cancer fightback

TV design guru Justin Ryan today reveals how his 88-year-old mother has made a miraculous fightback from cancer – thanks to the love and care of a Scots hospice.

Justin, his brother and their two sisters feared the worst when their precious mum Claire was admitted to the Highland Hospice with cancer of the uterus earlier this year.

But to the family’s great surprise and joy, brave Claire responded so well to treatment that her health rallied enough after 19 weeks for her to leave the hospice and start living her life again.

And, taking her cue from her TV star son, plucky Claire now features prominently in a promotional video for the hospice’s fundraising drive.

Justin, 47, one half of the Colin and Justin television duo, said: “The Highland Hospice took a very frail and broken lady and gave her back her dignity, strength, her appetite, her verve – everything. I cannot sing their praises enough. They gave my mum her life back.”

Claire, of Beauly, near Inverness, spent nearly five months in the hospice earlier this year, the third time she has fought cancer.

Justin told The Sunday Post: “Mum got her first cancer about eight years ago and bounced back.

“Then she got it again in her colon and bounced back.

“But about a year-and-a-half ago, the cancer was back and she was told that this time she’d need chemotherapy which she hadn’t had before. It totally wiped her out.”

Justin and partner Colin McAllister, 49, now split their time between their home in Glasgow and Canada, where their busy TV careers see them presenting home design and reality shows.

But with a six-hour flight he was able to pop home every few weeks to keep an eye on his mum.

He said: “I have three siblings – Colette, Carmel and Damian – so we had a sort of rota system.

“Mum’s 88 and like so many people of that age, when you get cancer the prognosis is often very different than it is for a young person.

“When you’re older, allegedly, those things can move more slowly.

“We’ve never had a time span for mum. She is still 100% cognitively correct. There’s no dysfunction, no onset of any kind of emotional stuff or mental issues – nothing.

“But this time when she was told she’d need chemo, we all asked her if she was sure she wanted to do this.  And she did.

“My mum’s a real trooper but she found it very hard-going. It was wiping her out.

“She kept going and going but it was erasing her physical prowess and she was getting weaker and weaker. She was supposed to get four of five sessions but they stopped at three because it was just too damaging.

“They did a CAT scan and the chemo had performed so well she didn’t need any more.”

But instead of bouncing back, this time Claire was floored with fatigue. Fiercely independent, she soldiered on until she could barely get out of bed.

Justin said: “We were told she needed hospice care. I didn’t know anything about hospices. I thought we were on a hiding to nothing.

“But once she was there she rallied and rallied and rallied.

“She’s never going to Highland dance again or be kicking up her heels, but she just got better and better and better. She didn’t need any palliative care. She didn’t have and has never has had any pain.

“She was in for 19 weeks then they called us and said, ‘Look, this is tricky as it doesn’t happen that often. Your mother is really proving to be quite a miracle and she’s no longer in need of hospice care.’”

Claire no longer wanted to go back home as she didn’t want anyone living with her round the clock. So she made the decision to go into a retirement home, from where she keeps close tabs on her family and friends.

And while the cancer will never leave her, she has her spirit back – and a twinkle in her eye again.

Justin said: “She moved in to the home about eight weeks ago and loves it. But it was the hospice that gave her back her life. I get emotional when I think of the warmth, humour and care, not just mum, but all of us received there.

“They are an amazing group of people who go out of their way and what’s really nice is how lovely they were to us too when we went in.

“Their care to everyone is other-worldy. They deserve to be sainted. I’m so proud of mum for becoming an unofficial spokespersons for the hospice and its appeal.”

In the video, filmed as she relaxed in bed at the hospice, Claire says: “It’s wonderful how kind everyone is. I don’t suppose I gave my fellow man that credit, just the people I knew.

“But it’s the people I don’t know who have shone for me. I feel safe and there’s always someone to talk to.”

For more info or to donate, visit www.highlandhospice.org/donate

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