Tribute delivered at the funeral of Felicity Hilder by
Jonathan Pearce (Chief Executive) on behalf of the Lymphoma Association on
Thursday 28 May 2015 at St Nicholas’ Church, Cuddington, Bucks.

Good afternoon. I’m Jonathan Pearce and I’m the chief executive of the Lymphoma Association and I’m honoured and privileged to have been invited by the Hilder family to speak to you today in memory of Felicity.Thank you.

First though I have a confession. I only knew and worked with Felicity for the last 18 months of her life, the time in which I have been part of the charity and its work. It’s fair to say though that in that brief time, it’s been so apparent the effect and impact she’s had on the organisation, its staff and volunteers, not to mention the love and affection that was felt for her and the esteem in which she was held. Some words are over-used and lose their meaning and weight because of it, but for all of us at – and involved - with the Lymphoma Association “inspirational” is the only true and fitting
description – and it’s certainly the word I’ve heard most frequently over the last few weeks since we heard the news.

And certainly, it’s no exaggeration to say that I wouldn’t be standing here today, if it weren’t for Felicity. I – and everyone else that works for or is involved with the charity – knows that we owe our jobs and involvement to Felicity – and of course Tim, who with a small group of others, were the driving force and motivation behind what the Lymphoma Association has become over the course of 30 years. We’re certainly aware of that legacy and conscious that we’re building on the foundations of what Felicity and Tim started back in 1986. It’s important to us as the current generation of staff that we stay true to the intentions, motivation and vision that Felicity and Tim had, while also bringing our ideas and thoughts to the ambitious plans we have to help people affected by lymphatic cancer. To say that this is an end of an era is an
underestimate of where we are – true nonetheless – and again, a phrase that I’ve heard many times recently.

Back in 1986, Felicity and Tim (and others) can hardly have imagined what they were creating – although the chances are they probably did imagine it – when they began to set up a helpline and support network (with only £276 and an early Amstrad computer to rub together) from their living room for people with Hodgkin’s Disease – a particular type of lymphoma. Starting as the Hodgkin’s Disease Association, and becoming the Hodgkin’s Disease and Lymphoma Association in 1996, and then the Lymphoma Association in 1998, the charity has grown and developed over three decades.

There are many staging posts and achievements to speak of – and not enough time here to cover them all. There is of course the OBE that Felicity received in 2012, and the acknowledgement of her contribution to the charity in the inaugural Beacons of Hope awards in 2006, there are the Lymphoma Clinical Nurse Specialist posts that the charity funded initially for three years – roles in hospitals that transform
the treatment, care and outcomes that people with lymphoma receive, and that
exist today as the gold standard in care and support for lymphoma patients;
there is the award-winning information for people with lymphoma; there are the
thousands and thousands of people helped each year via our support network of
helpline, support groups, buddy schemes; there is the co-founding of an
international alliance of lymphoma organisations – the Lymphoma Coalition –
across the world. All these things and more Felicity had either a direct hand
in or inspired. That’s some legacy, if you ask me.

But more than that, to my mind, the really lasting achievement is what can best be called the community of support without which people with lymphoma – and all those around them, their partners, their family, their friends – would suffer more than they have to, possibly alone and uninformed. The Hodgkin’s Disease Association may have started off as a local Aylesbury charity, but thanks to the guidance of Felicity and Tim and of course others, it’s a charity that is known throughout the world and helps hundreds of thousands of people – most of them in the UK – each year. To give you a sense of that, while we deal with 6,000 enquiries each year on the helpline, at the
moment we also have close to 60,000 unique visitors to our website each month, most of whom want to find reliable, accurate and supportive information about lymphoma that will educate them, inform them and give them reassurance and hope. For many people that will be enough, but for others that will be the beginning of a journey of support and help and the joining of a community that will always be there for them. As part of that in the last 10 years, we’ve raised about £10million to
help people with lymphoma.

A lot of that’s down to Felicity. When I talk to staff – present and past – about Felicity, they tell me of how hands on she was, how involved with the staff she was. She was always the first to step up to do something, to get involved, whether it was a fundraising walk, a support group meeting or fronting an appeal. Indeed, she remained an active trustee of the charity. In recent times, she ran our 25th anniversary committee and she spearheaded the thanksgiving service we held at St Martin’s, which included compiling the programme and making all the arrangements.

One of my colleagues, who looks after our photo library, mentioned to me that Felicity had one particular favourite photo that we had of her – a picture of Felicity with an owl. I seen that picture and it is an incredibly striking photo. And somehow that seems fitting – for of course it’s her wisdom and guidance that has helped establish the Lymphoma Association. And it’s that wisdom and insight, that will continue to guide the charity.

And while it’s easy to read signs and symbols into everything, of course there’s the Lymphoma Association’s logo of a periwinkle – the Vinca chosen not just for its connections with the treatment of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but also because of the fact that in medieval England it was a symbol of immortality. And somehow that seems fitting, for while we are here to mourn Felicity, we are also here to celebrate a life’s achievement and the creation of something that will outlast us all …

Thank you