The Sunday Times bestselling author Rachel Clarke is one of our amazing doctors here at Katharine House, and has written a new book following the success of her memoir of a junior doctor My Life in Your Hands.

Dear Life offers a deeply personal, moving and reflective look on life and loss, and how to live and die well. Already a #1 Best Seller on Amazon.co.uk on the day of release, the book has been selected as one of the best books of 2020 by the Sunday Times.

Originally a journalist making current affairs documentaries, about subjects as diverse as the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Al Qaeda and the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rachel retrained as a doctor in her late twenties, graduating in 2009.

She now works as a specialist palliative care doctor here at Katharine House.

Dear Life: part personal memoir part love letter to life

Rachel believes that helping patients at the end of life to experience the best quality life possible is priceless. Every day she tries to bring care and comfort to those reaching the end of their lives and to help make dying more bearable.

She also maintains there is a good way to approach the end of life for us all and through this tender and personal memoir she finds light and love in the darkest of places.

Rachel's training was put to the test in 2017 when her beloved GP father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She learned that nothing - even the best palliative care - can sugar-coat the pain of losing someone you love.

And yet, she argues, in a hospice there is more of what matters in life - more love, more strength, more kindness, more joy, more tenderness, more grace, more compassion - than you could ever imagine. For if there is a difference between people who know they are dying and the rest of us, it is simply this: that the terminally ill know their time is running out, while we live as though we have all the time in the world.

An urgent appeal for funding

Local end-of-life care services are at risk. Katharine House faces a £435,000 funding shortfall, and without your support, more than 900 local families may not be able to access the specialist and urgent care that Rachel writes about in her new book.

Sadly, costs to keep the hospice running each day are rising, and more people than ever before need our support, yet the percentage of government funding is shrinking as a percentage of our costs, so we urgently need to bridge this £435,000 shortfall.

Please make a donation today and help Katharine House make every moment matter for local families.

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