Champion of the terminally ill succumbs to cancer

GRETA Schoeman, founder of the Highway Hospice, has died after a protracted battle with cancer. She was 79.

Greta was born in England where she trained as a paediatric nurse.

She married a doctor, Pierre Schoeman, in 1968 and a year later they moved to South Africa.

It was her father’s death from cancer that prompted her to return to England to study as a hospice nurse at the Sir Michael Sobell House in Oxford and to have an understanding of the system of hospices which were successfully run in Britain at that time.

Her son, Ken Schoeman, said his mother had felt that she had to do something to still the suffering of the many people who were struck down by this dreaded disease.

On her return to South Africa and with a new set of qualifications, she opened the first in-patient unit for terminally ill patients in South Africa, in her home in Kings Road in Westville.

This was the forerunner of the Highway Hospice, a centre which thrived under her care and which this year celebrated 32 years of existence.

Her contribution to the people of Durban was recognised by the eThekwini Municipality in September when she was named one of the city’s living legends.

Greta was honoured by Queen Elizabeth II in 1992 when she was awarded the MBE in recognition of her commitment to the terminally ill. She was also the recipient of a Paul Harris Fellowship award from Rotary International.

At the time of her death she was a bereavement director of Lasting Post, a system that allows a person to privately stipulate their wishes in the event of their death.

She was a director of the Highway Hospice Trust and was involved in fund raising, such as her memorable ladies lunches.

Ken Schoeman said his mother had fought a long and hard battle and was at peace now.

“My sister Mandy and I, and my aunt Sheila, are sad at her death, but at the same time there is a sense of relief that she is not suffering anymore.”

Hospice fundraiser, Heather Walker, on behalf of the Highway Hospice said: “Greta was a very special lady who will be missed by all staff

members and by the volunteers. She was a friend and a mentor and her memory will live on in the work she started with this caring organisation.”

Greta’s daughter, Mandy, said as children she and her brother shared their mother with so many other people. “But we didn’t mind. We knew that her work was really important.

“She had so much love in her heart. She adored her grandchildren, Matthew (8) and George (3), Her favourite thing was eating chocolate biscuits in bed with her grandchildren first thing in the morning.”

Mandy said Greta had many interests. “She went through phases. A painting phase was one, she was also an amazing hostess and cook. She loved to knit too. I remember once she knitted a whole scarecrow family, mom, dad and children. I think it was raffled to raise funds for hospice.”

Greta loved to travel, to visit her family in England and her son in Australia.

“Her last trip was to me in Edinburgh where she spent five weeks, some of that time spent stocking my deep freeze with puddings. She came back to South Africa full of life and determination. and she seemed well. She was first diagnosed in 1991 when the prognosis was zero, but she fought back and succeeded. She was diagnosed again last year. The cancer was back. She was determined

to beat it but it was not to be. She died peacefully and with dignity which is what she always wanted for her patients.

“”My brother and I are adopted and she would say to us, ‘You are my gifts, I got to choose you.’ Perhaps we were, but to us, Greta, our mother, was our gift,”said Mandy.

There will be a memorial service for Greta at St Michael’s Anglican Church in Durban View Road, Umhlanga on Sunday, 23 November at 2.30pm.

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