20 Dec 2023 Patient and Family Stories

Family make show-stopping festive donation in memory of their wonderful wife and mum

On the 16th of August 2023, Heather Koolaji sadly passed away at The Kirkwood, at the age of 62 from a stroke.

We continue to care for hundreds of people across the Kirklees community with a life limiting illness. We can only do this with people’s very generous donations towards The Kirkwood, your donations make a huge difference with every penny going back into patient care. If you would like to make a donation click the link HERE and help us to support life. 

Heather was known for her show-stopping style, her love for decorating and her stunning taste, but most of all, her love of Christmas and decorating the house. Each year Heather would choose a different theme and colour for the Christmas decorations; she had hundreds of baubles, each one unique, beautiful garlands that hung throughout the house, as well as Father Christmas statues and nutcrackers that added a whimsical touch to every corner.

Aside from Heather’s fashionable flair and fabulous decorative skills, throughout her life, she worked as a Midwife, a Nurse and a Care Home Manager. She loved caring for people and she was a champion for end of life care. She was a Gold Standards Framework Champion, meaning she worked proactively to help people live well until they died.

Heather was a mum of three girls, Jeni, Amanda and Kristina and wife to her husband Abbass.

During the last four days of Heather’s life, she was cared for by our nurses on our In-Patient Unit.

Amanda, Heather’s daughter, commented on the care both her mum and family got over those four days: “Everyone was always so helpful, we didn’t have to worry about going and getting food, and we were shown where we could sleep so we could stay with her the whole time.

“The one thing I remember was, every time a nurse came into the room, they would speak to my mum, even though she wasn’t awake, and I absolutely loved that. It felt like they really cared about her.

“We could just focus on being with her and didn’t have to think about anything that needed to be done.”

Amanda added: “Another thing that stood out to us was that we had a family video of all our Christmasses from when we were children; we went out and got a DVD player and The Kirkwood PAT tested it for us so we could sit with our mum and watch the whole video together. That is a memory that will stick with us.”

Since Heather’s death, Abbass, Amanda, Jeni and Kristina have attended bereavement sessions at The Kirkwood. Amanda spoke about her experience at one of the sessions saying: “I spoke to two different women who had lost their dad and stepdad, so they understood my loss, whereas my dad was speaking to someone who had lost their wife, and they understood his loss. They are very different losses, so it’s been so helpful to be around different people who understand, and the people who run the sessions have been amazing.”

Since Heather’s death, Abbass and his daughters have raised over £1,000 for The Kirkwood by selling some of Heather’s beautiful designer clothing. The family also decided to donate their family Christmas tree and some of the beautiful decorations Heather had accumulated over the years, to The Kirkwood.

In the run up to Christmas, Abbass and his daughters, Amanda, Jeni and Kristina visited The Kirkwood and spent the morning decorating the beautiful tree, which has now been placed on our In-Patient Unit for all of our patients, their families and our colleagues to enjoy over the festive period.

“We hope the tree will put a smile on people’s faces when they see it over Christmas” Abbass commented.

We would like to thank Abbass and his three daughters for this lovely donation.