Patient Story

Robert Charity

"I literally felt the pain leave my body."

Robert, his wife, Silvia, and members of the palliative care team at a Washington Nationals game.

Robert Charity had never heard of hospice or palliative care before he got sick with prostate cancer in 2007.  But Robert, 77, learned firsthand how palliative care can positively impact quality of life.

Robert, a life-long baseball fan, had never actually been to a game and wanted so much to see his beloved Washington Nationals play - but that was unthinkable because of his pain.  He arrived at Capital Palliative Care Consultants in excruciating pain. "It was the worst day of my life," he said. He thought he would never return home. The palliative care doctor, Dr. Hunter Groninger, and team so effectively treated his pain that he "literally felt the pain leave my body," he said. "Almost instantaneously, I felt like a new person."

He had also lost his appetite. "I went two or three months without eating," Robert said. "At one point I looked in the mirror and it scared me." After his medications were adjusted, he once again craved his favorite foods such as fried chicken, peaches and cake. In addition to cancer, Robert's debilitating arthritis made it hard for him to get around.

Relieved of the pain, Robert finally got to the Nationals' new ballpark to watch his team win.  He also was able to make trips to Chinatown and the National Zoo and visit his niece in Virginia. Being active, in turn, lifted his spirits.

When the cancer inevitably advanced, Robert chose the same program that provided palliative care for hospice care at his home.  "We didn't hesitate for a minute," said Silvia Charity, Robert's wife. "We chose it because of the continuity of care and because we liked the doctor who continued to take care of my husband, along with the team."

A social worker on the palliative care team brought Robert a cake on his birthday, and a basket of gifts at Christmas. "It was the little things that helped us get through difficult times," said Silvia.

Robert died Jan. 26, 2009.