Hospiscare Together Magazine Autumn 2020

A legacy that lives on
Phillip Zarrilli, artistic director of the Llanarth Group
and a well-travelled actor, author and teacher, died
in our care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Before
his death, Phillip decided to amend his will to
leave a gift for our charity. His wife, Kaite O’Reilly,
celebrates his memory.
On 9 March 2020, when Phillip received the news
from his oncologist that the cancer he had been
living with for fourteen years had begun to ‘seriously
party’ (his words), he said to me ‘this is our last
adventure together.’
Phillip lived with cancer - creatively, fully and without
complaint - for fourteen years. He always spoke of
how grateful he was to have been able to teach,
create, perform, direct and, most importantly,
complete his books, constantly giving thanks to
the brilliant skills and ideology of universal free
healthcare offered by the UK’s NHS.
We are both hugely grateful to the staff at Hospiscare,
who gave Phillip such tender and expert palliative
care, and in the most challenging of conditions,
in the middle of a pandemic. Against all the odds,
they allowed me to be with Phillip, showing such
compassion. One of his last acts of kindness was
to change his Will so that he could leave a donation
to Hospiscare, to say thank you. We both felt it was
important to support such an important charity
during this financial crisis.
Phillip died on 28 April 2020 at 13.52 UK time. It was
the ‘good death’ he wanted, I think - calm, pain-free,
unsentimental - me holding his hand.
I keep thinking of the Tagore line: ‘Let it not be a
death, but completeness.’
I have been so fortunate, having this great mind,
this gentle and generous man as my companion in
so many ways – loving, working, living, travelling,
thinking, writing and making performance alongside
him for twenty one years. I believe Phillip inhabited
every second of his life until he departed, soaring, on
a breath.
One in five of our patients is cared for thanks to gifts
in Wills. We are grateful for each and every donation.
If you would like to find out more about leaving your
own legacy, you can get in touch with our Legacy
Gift team by calling 01392 688020 or emailing
legacyinfo@hospiscare.co.uk.
14 | Because every day matters