Cancer woman's sanctuary raided (From Ilkley Gazette)

Cancer woman's sanctuary raided

10:30am Friday 3rd July 2009

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Burglars ransacked the “sanctuary” of a terminally-ill woman while she was out delivering keepsakes to friends to remember her by.

Now accident and emergency nurse Jo Ferguson, who has incurable cancer, is determined to show the raiders that they could not spoil the last days of her life.

Fifty-year-old Jo has rented a house in a beautiful but remote spot near Bolton Abbey. She used to live in Addingham but returned to the area in May following her breast cancer diagnosis For Jo, who lives alone and has now developed three brain tumours, it was a dream come true to return to the place where she feels most at home.

But, following a traumatic day saying farewell to friends, she arrived home to discover her house had been ransacked.

Among the items stolen was a string of pearls given to her as a child by her late mother, Pauline.

Jo said the break-in, which she discovered just after 8pm on Wednesday, June 10, had come as a bitter blow but she has vowed not to let it get her down.

“I want to show the thieves that burglary is not a victimless crime and for them to appreciate the suffering they have caused,” said Jo, who until recently worked in casualty at Darlington Memorial Hospital.

“But this home is my sanctuary and, even though it’s been invaded, it will remain so. This is the place where I wanted to spend the last days of my life.

“Ever since my terminal cancer was diagnosed it was my wish to return to the area. I love it here and I have very good friends here. I couldn’t wish to be in a better place. I call it heaven with the gate shut.

“I felt particularly safe here. I still do; the burglary hasn’t changed my opinion at all. I love it just as much.”

Jo said her 80-year-old father, Alan, had been staying with her at the time of the break-in and he had found the experience extremely distressing.

“His room had been ransacked and his bed overturned so we had to disinfect that before he was able to go bed,” she said.

“After the burglary I couldn’t bear to sleep in my room because, again, it had been ransacked. I slept downstairs in a chair and then at 6am the next day the ambulance came to take me to hospital for my gamma knife radiotherapy treatment.”

Jo said one of the most distressing aspects of the burglary had been that the thieves had been able to read the contents of her living will, expressing her personal wishes over how her treatment should progress. Jo said: “I had just had my living will prepared and the burglars would have been able to read it and that feels like a big invasion of my privacy. I was really upset about that; it was a private document.

“I was due to have radiotherapy the day after the burglary and I wanted to give the living will to my consultant in case anything went wrong. But I had to leave it at home so the crime scene investigator from the police could check it for fingerprints. I was very upset about that.

“It was really shocking coming back and finding out that I had been burgled.

“I had been out that day to see friends to give away some of my patchwork and embroidery, the things I made myself and which mean a lot to me.

“I wanted the pieces to be in good hands before my death, with people who would look after them.”

As well as Jo’s late mother’s pearls, around 30 other items of jewellery, including a number of antique pieces were stolen.

In addition, her notebook computer was taken in the raid, together with a number of telephones. Also missing was a copper kettle and coffee pot that she had left to friends in her will “I have been collecting antique jewellery for years but it was the pearls given to me by my mother which were the most precious to me. I can’t replace those,” she added. PC Simon Crossley, of Grassington Police, said the crime was “despicable” and he appealed for any information which could help the police in their search for the thieves.

“Jo wished to live in a peaceful place to end her days and this happens. It’s really shocking,” said PC Crossley.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Grassington Police on 0845 6060 247. Alternatively call the confidential Crimestoppers line on 0800 555111.

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