At ellenor Billie Had Comfort- And I Had Peace Of Mind
When Bill Davidson looks back on his wife Billie’s final weeks, he speaks about knowing she was safe. After months of uncertainty and exhausting nights at home, ellenor’s inpatient ward gave Billie comfort, dignity and round-the-clock care – and allowed Bill to be there as her husband, rather than feeling helpless and overwhelmed.
You couldn’t miss Billie Davidson around Dartford. Always smartly dressed, walking everywhere with her shopping trolley, stopping to chat with everyone.
“People still stop me in town to ask how she is,” says her husband, Bill. “Even strangers ask after her. That’s how well liked she was.”
Just before Christmas 2024, everything changed. Billie had been getting pains in her stomach and thought it was diverticulitis. But when the scan came back, the doctor said, “You’ve got cancer. We’ve found a tumour.”
“We were both shocked,” Bill says quietly. “Everyone was. It was four days before Christmas.”
The cancer was aggressive. Surgery wasn’t an option. Chemotherapy made her feel worse. Radiotherapy was too difficult to tolerate.
At home, caring for Billie became harder.
“She was being violently sick in the middle of the night,” Bill recalls. “I just sat there, helpless. I’m not medically trained, and all I could do was try to keep her comfortable. Sometimes we waited three hours for a nurse to come. It was heartbreaking.”
One night, after another difficult few hours, a district nurse suggested ellenor.
“She said Billie would get 24-hour care,” Bill remembers. “That sounded like exactly what she needed – and what I couldn’t give her.”
Billie agreed. She knew it was time.
“I think she was more worried about me than herself,” Bill says. “She didn’t want me sitting there helpless.”
Billie was cared for on ellenor’s inpatient ward in Northfleet.
“The difference was immediate,” Bill says. “She was safe. Comfortable. Treated with dignity. And I could just be her husband again – not constantly worrying about what might happen next.”
It gave them time together where Bill could simply be her husband.
“I can’t praise ellenor enough,” he says. “They gave Billie comfort, and they gave me peace of mind. They cared about her as a person, not just a patient.”
In her final days, Bill and Billie spent their time together remembering the life they had shared: the pubs they ran, boating trips on the Norfolk Broads, and the day they first met when Billie walked into a police station to report a stolen chequebook.
Billie died later that year with Bill by her side.
Her life was full: fifty years of marriage, countless shared adventures, and a Dartford community that loved her deeply.
“ellenor took away the fear and the panic at the end,” Bill says. “I knew she was safe. And for the first time in a long while, I had peace of mind too.”
