Help us raise £40,000 for Sobell House by donating to our JustGiving page or texting OMSH76 with the amount you'd like to donate to 70070.

TERMINAL illness does not stop at robbing its victims of good health.

It can also snatch those personal moments we take for granted, like being able to wash ourselves or brush our own teeth.

The loss of independence can harbour a host of negative emotions: a sense of regression, as you rely on your children to prop you up on the toilet as you once did when they were toddlers.

It can also evoke embarrassment, as you allow a stranger to bathe you in hope of regaining a hygiene routine lost to illness.

Sobell House clinical nursing assistant Sarah Turrell ensures her patients are at ease as she washes them in the hospice's specialist tubs.

Read the incredible stories of the patients, staff and volunteers at the hospice on our dedicated Sobell page 

She said: "It's about dignity. Some people are a little bit shy but I usually talk the whole way through. One woman said she was really worried coming in and letting her body be exposed but she said 'I just felt so comfortable after'.

"I was just asking about her kids and what she used to do for work. I try to keep things as light as possible.

"I absolutely love my job, I have met some of the most amazing people. It's a lovely, peaceful and tranquil place and you get more time to sit with the patients and chat to them.

"It's a great privilege to look after somebody at the end of their life. Dying is a part of life and it will come to all of us - it would be nice if everyone could just fall asleep and not be struck down by horrible diseases. It's a hard job but it's so very rewarding and worthwhile. We get a lot of support."

She also works as senior housekeeper on the hospice's ward.

Bowel cancer patient Joyce Andrews, who lives close to the hospice in Headington, looks forward to her baths when she visits Sobell's day centre.

Miss Andrews, who was first diagnosed 10 years ago and has relapsed three times, said it gives her daughter - who is also her career - a break from bringing her to her home in Banbury to bathe her.

The 64-year-old said: "Sarah has been marvellous, she shampoos and dries my hair and sprays my body with nice deodorant. She gives you the whole works. The first time I was a bit embarrassed because she's a young lady, but she gave me a towel and said 'I'm a nurse Joyce, don't panic.' I felt as though I was her nan or mum or something but you get used to it."