"I am so grateful to everyone involved"

I recently spent 4 weeks in hospital, when my cancer, which had been stable for 4 years, suddenly decided to pop up again with tumours on my spinal cord.

The pain I was in was unbelievable, I couldn't walk or lie down. I was immediately put onto a pain relief programme, and the pain managed to a level where I could lie down enough to have a MRI scan. For this, I can thank Dr. Andrei, who held my hand and gave me so much encouragement, which helped enormously.

I was briefly transferred to Exeter Hospital for treatment, then back to Barnstaple. The care I received was amazing. I had regular visits from nurses from the Seamoor Unit, physiotherapy, occupational therapy etc. and the care from all the nurses and doctors was second to none. Nothing was too much trouble.

The food was lovely, with lots of choices of meals to suit everyone, cups of tea, coffee and biscuits were brought round on a regular basis, and the rooms cleaned and beds changed every day, I was sad to say goodbye to some of the nurses I'd got to know well.

I've never been in hospital for such a long time before, but my stay was so comfortable and I was looked after so well. I am so grateful to everyone involved.