“Hospice for me is a safe place”

“My name’s Greg Burgess. I’m from East Galway and I’m 60 years young.”

Greg is a father, a friend, a keen golfer and fisherman. He loves travelling, spending time with his children, and building detailed models and dioramas. After his cancer diagnosis, many of those everyday pleasures became more difficult.

“That’s all very difficult now.”

When Greg first heard the word hospice, he admits he felt nervous.

“Because when people hear ‘hospice,’ everyone just thinks straight away — it’s end-of-life stuff. And on the first day when you come in here, yeah, you might be a bit nervous about what’s happening.”

But that perception quickly changed.

“You quickly find out that it’s a nice place to be, and how much they can help people — not just here, but out in the community as well.”

Greg’s connection to hospice began before his own diagnosis. His late partner had used hospice services. But it wasn’t until he started receiving palliative care at home himself that he truly understood what hospice offers.

“My sons were scared when I first told them. They were scared.”

Before palliative care, Greg was struggling physically and emotionally.

“I was hardly getting through the day. I had so many things wrong with me.”

With the support of the palliative care team, his medication was gradually reviewed and adjusted.

“It wasn’t until palliative care came to me and gradually, over a few weeks, worked out my medication that my quality of life changed.”

Greg was also introduced to Galway Hospice Day Care and the Empower programme — supports that helped him manage stress and anxiety.

“The Empower programme helped me to relax more. It helped me to be in charge of my stress and my anxiety. It’s not affecting me as badly as it was before — now I can control it more.”

He found small but powerful ways to reconnect with himself.

“I relax, listen to some nice sea music, do different things.”

And he continues to create.

“I can still do modelling — and I don’t mean poses. I mean making models, making dioramas, buildings and things like that. That’s what I like doing now. That’s what palliative care brought to me.”

For Greg, hospice is not about endings.

“Hospice for me is a safe place.”