Ten-year old Alex was losing his courageous battle with a terminal illness that had taken its toll on his small body since birth. He and his family had endured the years of pain together and the time came when Alex’s physician suggested contacting The Butterfly Program. An award winning palliative care program for children, this collaboration between Porter Hospice and The Children’s Hospital offers supportive care to children and their families when the child has a terminal condition regardless of whether treatment for the illness continues.

End-of-life care was provided to Alex and his family even while they received medical interventions and the family prayed for miracles. During the next several years, a pediatric nurse, social worker and chaplain from the program provided Alex with the medical care he needed and offered valuable support to his parents and siblings.  Alex was able to remain at home with his entire family at his side. 

When the time approached for his parents to focus on his comfort, the Butterfly team was a blessing, giving each member of the family the emotional care they so needed and deserved. Alex and his family loved and hugged each other to the end and the Butterfly team became an important part of their lives. When the inevitable came, bereavement counselors stood beside the family and today, more than a year later, still offer grief counseling. “We cannot tell you how much it has meant to have the Butterfly Program involved in our family.  You are all angels and such a blessing to us, thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” wrote Alex’s mother in a note to the Butterfly team. Those serving Alex and his family would certainly reply that it is an incredible privilege for them to do the work they do each day.

Bob sat in his favorite chair in his favorite room, a cavernous clubhouse for overgrown boys, the ceiling covered with traingular pennants from the Broncos, Rockies, Avalanche, Nuggets, Mammoth, Rapids and Crush. Looking up from watching the evening news he was greeted by several of his old buddies bounding down the basement steps into his “den.” His face broke into a contagious smile!

A few months earlier, Bob had been diagnosed with lung cancer. When he was unresponsive to treatment, he decided he wanted to spend his remaining time surrounded by his loved ones. So he came home, put his favorite jeans, threw the basement open to all of his friends and family and chose hospice care. The nurses, along with an aide, social worker and chaplain, visited regularly and made sure that all needs - pain, nausea, sleeplessness, despair and even family grief - were addressed.

Bob's family wrote us after his death, “My father totally opened up and changed. With the assistance of our hospice counselor, he shared life stories that we had never before heard. It was a very meaningful family time for all of us and we could not have done this without your loving help. Dad was comfortable and at peace and spent the end of his life surrounded by his friends and loving family. We cannot thank you enough!”