Inspirational Stories

Celebrating Life

Sharon Presnell is an exotic belly dancer, beautiful and extremely caring. She recently organised a highly successful fundraiser for the North Shore Hospice as a way of thanking Hospice for the care received for her father and then her mother – a belly dancing show was her unique way of giving back.

‘My father had terminal cancer and we looked after him ourselves,’ says Sharon. ‘But at the end of his life the Hospice was full so he was put in a geriatric ward at the North Shore Hospital. However, a Hospice nurse came and visited Dad and I was very impressed with her lovely caring attitude.’

It was a shock to the family to learn that their mother had cancer a few years later.

‘It was really sudden when my mum got cancer. She had bowel cancer – but it had already spread to secondary liver cancer as well. There was nothing they could do. They said she only had three months. It was quite frightening when she was going through all those changes that cancer brings – but she was a brave soldier. I left work and stayed with her. My sister flew over from England and we took turns helping give Mum a bit of quality of life.’

With the help of the Hospice doctor and nurses visiting them the family managed at home for a time. But then Sharon’s mother deteriorated to the point she needed to go into the Hospice.

‘For the last three weeks of her life Mum was in Hospice. The nurses were so lovely. They gave her so much dignity. They would put nice soothing music on. They spongebathed her and they used scented oils. They gave her body massages with essential oils. I was so happy that they did these special things for her. It is horrible watching a loved one die, but to see this loving care is very uplifting for the family. All of this helps in a stressful time. We are very lucky as we had a lot of extended family coming to support us from Fiji. The Hospice allowed that to happen. It is not like a hospital where visitors are restricted to certain hours and then they have to leave. It was really nice – we could use the lounge and we slept in Mum’s room every night. Just being able to be with her was wonderful. She was never alone.’

After her mother’s death, Sharon decided she wanted to do something for Hospice to thank them for their compassionate care of her mother.

‘I just thought how kind the Hospice nurses and volunteers had been – not just for the patients but for the families too. They would come and talk to us and see if we were doing okay. So I wanted to do something to thank Hospice and all that they have done. They are human angels.’

An experienced belly dancer, Sharon went to her dance teacher, Monique Feron of the Abbraccia School of Dance with the idea of hosting a fundraising evening. Monique was keen and the Elektra Dancers took up the challenge.

‘That is one of the many nice things about Monique – she does a lot of charity work. I was grateful for her help with the show and the programme. We sold tickets in a variety of ways. A couple of friends and I went down for three Sundays to the Takapuna Flea Market and sold tickets there. That was fun! We did a bit of busking, a bit of dancing.’

With the support of the North ShoreTimes, Sunday Star Times and More FM, Sharon and her dancer friends ended up selling all of the tickets – and some of them twice over!

‘Some people said they would buy a ticket but that they wouldn’t be able to come. The whole house was packed out and we exceeded the fundraising money that I had forecast. The show was called “A Celebration of Goddess Bastet of Joy and Dancing.” We wanted to use the Egyptian cat-headed goddess to remind people about enjoying life. It is all about celebrating happiness today rather than waiting for tomorrow. That was something my mother did. She wanted to enjoy every day. She kept herself going and she had a positive attitude right up to the last even though she knew she was dying. The Hospice helped the whole family during this difficult time and made everything much easier.’

Karen McMillan