TOURNAMENT FOUNDER - Larry Brooks
16 years ago my husband Larry, was asked by Arbutus Ridge if he would start up a charity golf tournament to be held at Arbutus Ridge & they would support our efforts 100%. Not knowing at first which charity he wanted us to become involved in, he spent a few days thinking about it and woke up one day and said “Hospice”. Larry met with Hospice & and when he came home he was so impressed we immediately became involved. That was the beginning of his dream, every year we would support hospice by putting on golf tournaments.
The very first year we started this tournament, Hospice was creating “the Roof Top Garden”. We were told why this would be so important to the patients, as well as their families and staff and we were given drawings of the proposed project and we were in awe of the beautiful concept!! How wonderful to have a place to go with your dear loved ones and friends. To have the opportunity to sit outside in the fresh air in the privacy of the gardens and beautiful trees, to feel the wind on your face and listen to the trickle of water going into the small pond, what a gift to a patient to be given in the last weeks or months of ones life. We felt so good to be able to contribute towards the growth of this amazing garden creation.
Within a year our little tournament became to mean even more to us with the passing of a couple of very close friends, who spent their final days in the comfort of Hospice care. Larry even managed to get a hole in one in 1998 at our Hospice Tournament and was so proud, so much so, that we were reminded about his hole in one, year after year, because it was the eagle flying magistically overhead that guided his ball right into the 4th hole. How he loved telling that story and once again no we did not win the car.
Then the unthinkable happened, Larry was diagnosed with Lung Cancer in April of 2005 and although the outlook at the beginning by the doctors seemed to look good, it didn’t take long for us to realize that Larry was very ill, and the months they thought he would have was not meant to be. He was in Hospice that year while our 9th tournament was on and passed away on June 18th 2005 a little over a week later.
On June 7th his first day of arriving at Hospice, he was so weak from loosing so much weight in a short period of time, his pain level was acute as well as the daily nausea, and his breathing laboured, BUT, within a few hours of being given oxygen by the wonderful nurses, soon his pain was in more in control and he looked relaxed for the first time in weeks.
We as a family experienced the caring, compassionate help of the doctors, and nurses, who treated his pain, assessed his condition on a daily basis, and gave us such wonderful support. The volunteers were so sensitive in asking us if there was anything we needed, always so very kind and respectful when we needed our privacy. We often spent time in the “beautiful roof top garden” where it provided us with the serenity we so needed.
Deb and I slept in Larry’s room the last two nights, the nurses kept us informed to the changes that were happening, and when we knew the end was near, they were checking on us, offering their help and support. Words cannot express my deep gratitude to all the staff at Hospice. What a wonderful team of people, professionally trained to be there for the family when the end comes. We never felt alone or abandoned instead we were hugged and loved.
Hospice has many services available for the family, and their support does not end when our loved one dies. They continue to contact the family for a year, and offer skilled, compassionate, physical, spiritual and emotional care. Several of our family members took advantage of the grief counselling when their pain became to hard to handle on their own.
I am so grateful that Larry chose Hospice as the charity he wanted us to be involved in. The work they do goes far beyond anything you will ever imagine. How do you thank these wonderful people? I have thought and thought, how do we say thank you and then I realized we are doing that every year by having this tournament to support Hospice.
In closing I read a remark in the Hospice news some time ago that said “Hospice is a resting place for patients on a journey”. How true.
Thank you all, for supporting our dream.
