When Terry Iadicicco Lowe was struggling with breast cancer in 2021, her husband Tim Lowe turned to Hospice & Palliative Care of Martha’s Vineyard for help. 

On stage at the nonprofit’s fundraiser at Farm Neck Golf Club Monday, and alongside his stepdaughter Josie, Mr. Lowe talked about how hospice was there for his family when the cancer spread to Terry’s brain. Though hesitant at first, he said he needed hospice’s aid to ensure his dying wife’s wishes were granted. 

“We did not take this decision lightly,” Mr. Lowe told the crowd of donors and volunteers. “The idea of needing Hospice had a negative connotation - feeling like it was ‘giving in’ and admitting defeat to that persistent beast. We could not have been more wrong.”

For 43 years, the nonprofit has provided nursing care, grief counseling, coordination for care and assistance creating quality of life plans, a majority of which is funded predominantly through donations. Mr. Lowe encouraged attendees to find ways to help the nonprofit so that other families, like his, can receive the support they need and otherwise could not afford. 

“Personally, it helped dig me out of a deep trench of exhaustion and despair that I was feeling,” Mr. Lowe said. “I couldn’t save her life and felt I was failing her and Josie.”

The organization will hold its first grief camp later this year. — Gwyn Skiles

Monday’s event, the annual Summer Soiree, is the largest fundraiser of the year for hospice, and the organization had a record-breaking 53-sponsors and more than 120 donors, bringing in more than $250,000 in ticket and auction sales alone. “We are reaching more patients and families every day,” said Cathy Wozniak, executive director of the nonprofit. “This is a wonderful time for everybody to just come together and celebrate what we do.”

Guests were handed glasses of champagne as they arrived and made their way toward the silent auction where they could write their names underneath Island-inspired activities, dinners, artwork and gift cards. More than 100 volunteers helped run the event, whether it be checking guests in, or shucking oysters at the raw bar.

This year, the non-profit will be hosting their first Camp By The Sea grief camp on October 19 at Slough Farm to help families with children process their emotions.

Chantale Patterson, clinical director for the non-profit and nurse, has been with several patients and their family members during their final moments. She said it’s incredibly rewarding work that can sometimes take an emotional toll.

A portion of the non-profit’s funds goes to care for the staff, including counseling services. 

“You get very attached to people because you’re with them at their most vulnerable times,” Ms. Patterson said. “We recognize that to do this work, to be resilient and to be able to keep doing a good job, we have to take care of ourselves and each other.”