11 Mar 2024 Community

Graham Porter’s emotional The Kirkwood journey and why he’s proud to be a volunteer

The Kirkwood looks at the bigger picture when it comes to caring for loved ones as we think about how not only to provide the best support to our patients but to their loved ones too. Our amazing clinical staff are always thinking about everyone involved and it’s part of our ethos that everyone is cared for to the best of our abilities. 

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. 

One person that saw the amazing work we do on our In-Patient Unit is Graham Porter. We cared for Graham’s wife Judy in 2023 as she died on our unit, surrounded by all of her loved ones. 

Graham is well known locally for previously presenting a gardening show on BBC Radio Leeds, he has recently joined our fantastic team of volunteer gardeners. Graham has a long history with The Kirkwood, however he feels he now wants to commit regular time to our volunteer gardening team by giving a number of hours up on a Monday and Thursday to help them keep the garden looking as magnificent as it does. 

Graham first came into contact with The Kirkwood right at its birth in 1987. Having worked as a tutor in Huddersfield he had heard about The Kirkwood being created and thought it would be a good idea to get his students involved in what was a brand new project. 

He said: “I was teaching horticulture at Huddersfield Technical College in 1987. We had third year students that had to do a design project and I'd heard about the Hospice. I made contact with The Kirkwood and said I've got this group of students; they've got to do a design project, is there any chance of us coming into your gardens and building you some flower beds? They said yes and so we went down to the Dalton site two years in succession. We built a rockery and other things which were great at the time.” 

Graham's first taste of volunteering for The Kirkwood came nine years later. 

He continued: “In 1996 I was made redundant from Huddersfield Technical College and I went self-employed. 

“I said when that happened, I would give some of my time up where I could. So, I gave some of my time to voluntary work. I volunteered at The Kirkwood’s site in Dalton for about a year and helped the gardeners out on a Monday. It was a good experience.”  

Graham continued his career following that short stint of voluntary work. The Kirkwood came back into Graham's life in 2022 when his wife Judy was diagnosed with cancer. 

He said: “My wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in August 2022, she had the cancer for 15 months and spent her last ten days on The Kirkwood’s In-Patient Unit. 

“I'd already been donating to The Kirkwood £20 a month as I know how much that can do for the hospice in general. However, after my wife died it obviously brought it home to me more about what everyone does with this incredible charity. After she died I thought maybe I ought to come back and give something back to The Kirkwood because they treated my wife like a queen.

“The staff were unbelievable in their care and support of her, let alone the family. I said that after she passed away and I got myself turned around and settled, I will join the volunteer gardening team, and that's what I've done.”

Graham bravely explained how the family dealt with Judy’s diagnosis and subsequent care. 

He said: “Well, in the beginning of August 2022 I had to go into hospital for a serious operation, l had my large intestines removed. 

“So I spent five weeks in hospital before having my operation. My wife and family came in and brought me things and came to see me. I had no energy and that's why I spent five weeks in hospital prior to having the operation because they didn't think I'd got enough energy and nutrients in me to be able to cope with the long operation. I was three and half stone down in weight too. 

“Despite that I'll always remember one of the days Judy came in to see me and she was crying, I asked her what was the matter. She then told me that she had been diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer and she had to start chemotherapy immediately.

“I was in shock, I felt a bit helpless. So when I came out of the hospital I had to hit the ground running because my wife was beginning to go down hill with chemotherapy because it is an absolutely horrible experience. It did quieten the cancer down for a while.

“Then of course eventually sometime in August 2023, things started to go downhill a bit more rapidly and at the beginning of August she lost her mother who was 104 years old, she died in a care home in Ripon. So we had all the trauma of sorting that out too.

“Thankfully she was able to sort out the funeral, but she was beginning to go downhill. By the time we got to the beginning of October she spent more time in Huddersfield HRI than she did at home. By the middle of October she was admitted on to The Kirkwood’s In-Patient Unit for the final 10 days of her life. She died on Bonfire night.

“We were all at her bedside when she passed away peacefully, with the love and support of her family and the love and support of the staff of The Kirkwood.” 

Reflecting on his wife's care, Graham said: “The staff are just absolute magic. You couldn't fault the love and the care and the support they gave to me and Judy.  

“When we walked through those Dalton doors it was like walking into your own home. It meant that I felt instantly comfortable. The reception staff, the nursing staff, the doctors, the cleaners, the cooks, the bottle washer and the Candlestick makers. Everybody just couldn't do enough for us. The care we received here was amazing.” 

Sparking up a memory, Graham Fondly remembers the times he and his wife had in Holmfirth where they live, looking around our charity shop. He also Fondly remembers the first time he saw Judy. 

Graham said: “When Judy was alive we had a circuit in Holmfirth. We used to park in the bottom car park and do the charity shop circuit, and there's about five or six including The Kirkwood’s. She’d look for clothing for our grandchildren and little gifts we could get them. I'd be searching out for decent books to read, every time we’d go into The Kirkwood shop in particular we’d always buy something.

“Judy was a cook at the college I was teaching at. I didn't know her at the time but that's where we met in 1973. I saw this lady on the counter serving the food and one day I asked her out. Whilst she was serving me peas with fish and chips. In shock, these peas went all over the floor and it became a family joke. We went out for a pub meal somewhere on a date and we both came back saying it was nice but we wouldn't go serious. A year later we were engaged and in 1975 we were married. We were married for 48 years.” 

As well as enjoying reading books, Graham has had a long time passion for gardening. This has led him to be one of the leading voices of gardening in the county. He has had his own show on BBC Radio Leeds for many years and he's now excited to bring those expertise to our volunteer gardening team. 

On his passion for gardening and his rise as a media personality, Graham said: “I started as an apprentice in Southend which is where I came from in the mid 1960s and I did a four year apprenticeship and went to full time college. I came up to York to be a full time student. A couple of years later I came back as a technician to the college in York and I was living in an old farmhouse with lots of other technicians and agricultural workers. 

“Me, Judy and the family moved to Huddersfield and I began to teach at Huddersfield Tech. In 1994 the phone rang and I was asked to appear on a gardening show on a Saturday. Ever since then I've done programme's with the BBC and it's been great. Between 2015 and 2022 I became the main voice of the Sunday garden programme. In 2022 I left the show due to my own health problems and then looking after Judy. 

“I'm delighted to have joined the gardening team at the Hospice. The Kirkwood gardens are truly fantastic with hundreds of hours a week going into maintaining them, if I can add to that with some new ideas then brilliant.”