You feel intertwined with the hospice

Tania Rahman already remembers her father. On Sunday she will walk as well.

She told Phoenix FM that the Saint Francis Hospice Memory Walk in Raphael Park, Romford, is “a more expressive way” to do the remembering her family already does. They will be physically together. They will also be thinking about the people and the place that made his last days peaceful.

Dr Muhammad Rahman was, in his daughter’s words, kind, generous and dependable. He stepped in before he was asked. He took on other people’s problems as if they were his own. He had a sense of humour, and he got time with Tania’s children, which she is thankful for. “I admired him enormously, not just as my dad but as the kind of person he was.”

He was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in February 2024. He had chemotherapy and immunotherapy. The cancer progressed. He stayed relatively well until nearer the end, then went to Saint Francis Hospice for end-of-life care, and died there peacefully in January 2025.

It was the first time the family had been through anything like it. The doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants and volunteers were used to the situation, which put them at ease. When his condition worsened, staff moved him to a side room so they could have privacy. They were able to be together in his last moments in a place where his needs had already been taken care of.

Tania’s line about that week is the one that stays. Having so many people focused on his comfort meant the family “could focus on simply being his daughter, wife and son.”

Then the sentence this piece is named for: “Once you have had an experience like this, you feel intertwined with the hospice.”

Sunday is the third year the walk has come to Raphael Park. Last September almost 400 people turned out, dogs included. Gates open at ten. The walk starts at eleven. You can choose a 3k stroll or a 5k. Online registration has closed; the hospice says you can still register on the day. Adults pay £15, under-16s £7, children under five nothing. The entry fee covers the event. The hospice then asks for a suggested £105 on top, which it says could pay for one senior nurse for one day.

Saint Francis has been in Havering-atte-Bower for 42 years. The Care Quality Commission rates it outstanding. In the twelve months to its birthday in July it cared for 2,945 people, a rise of 30 per cent on the year before. In June the chief executive, Grazina Berry, said the hospice is trying to find £1 million of savings, and that 32 per cent of its funds come from the Government.