Peace & Gratitude

Norma Cumbo was grateful for the help of the 

Angela Hospice Care Center when her mom, 

Patricia, needed more specialized care.

Norma said, "It was a relief because I remember 

feeling like, 'I can be her daughter again. I don't 

have to be her caregiver.'" 

Norma Cumbo is an only child. But when her mom got sick, she felt the support of family all around her – from her kids; her partner, Doug; her cousin Patty, who is like a sister; her co-workers at Madonna University; and the team at Angela Hospice.

After spending most of 2017 going to different doctors and specialists, Norma’s mom, Patricia Bonanno, learned it was a MRSA infection that was affecting the artificial knee joint she’d had placed 30 years prior. But after six weeks of IV antibiotics, the infection came right back.

“We knew that there was no cure for it,” Norma said. “She was in a lot of pain, so that’s when we made the choice to call in hospice to more or less just take care of her pain management.”

Patricia began receiving home care services from Angela Hospice in the retirement community where she was living. Patricia needed her bandages changed by a nurse every day and because her infection was contagious, there was a concern about the infection being passed to other residents.

So when Patricia needed a higher level of care, Norma said she wasn’t surprised at all.

Norma and Patricia with Norma's children, 

Jordan and Evan.

“I wanted to bring her to Angela Hospice. My aunt had been in the Care Center two years earlier. We were just very impressed with the care and the facility. My mother came to see her a lot,” Norma said.

In fact, Norma said Angela Hospice was the only place her mother would even consider moving to.

Norma was grateful when a room soon opened up at the Angela Hospice Care Center. The award-winning hospice facility, funded through the generosity of donors, provided a home away from home for Norma’s mom. “I just knew it was the right thing to do,” Norma said.

Norma would come twice a day to visit: on her lunch break from Madonna next door, then with Doug after dinner. They would spend quality time with Patricia, talking and visiting or watching TV.

“It was comforting to me,” Norma said. “I kind of felt when I left I was saying goodnight to her, kind of putting her to bed.”

Norma’s children, Jordan and Evan, would visit too, as would her cousin Patty. They were all there when Patricia took her last breaths on August 19 of this year.

“We told her, ‘Go ahead, Mom. We’ll be OK,’” Norma said.

Norma explained that she is at peace with her mom’s passing. “Of course, I miss her. But I know that she’s free, she’s free from that body that kept her so trapped,” she said.

Norma is grateful for the support her family received, and that her mother was able to have a good experience in her final days.

“I can just say that her care was the best that I could ever have asked for,” Norma said.