'I could let the carer part go - and just be his mum'

As a toddler, Greg Fears was given five years to live but he didn't show any serious symptoms that whole time. His mother tells Ellie Gosley how the support of Tŷ Hafan was vital during her son's final months...

- 

A MOTHER-OF-THREE whose son was diagnosed with a life-limiting condition aged just two said it breaks her heart to think there are other families who don’t have the support she did when her son was unwell.

Jackie Fears, from Church Village, near Pontypridd, has bravely opened up about her eldest son, Greg.

The young man, described as “such a character” with the “most enigmatic smile” by his family, died on Valentine’s Day in 2023.

“I honestly feel that when Greg died, part of me went with him,” Jackie said.

At the age of two, Greg was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension - a life-shortening heart and lung condition - with a prognosis that he would only live for a further five or so years.

“My husband, Paul, and I were devastated and I felt that I was going to pieces,” she said.

Greg, however, suffered no serious symptoms of his condition until he was 15, and it was then that he and his family started to receive support from Tŷ Hafan.

“This is the only place where I could just be his mum. And it was so nice to let the carer part of me go for the time that we were here - I could just be his mum,” Jackie said.

Greg, in fact, lived well beyond the initial prognosis of five years, cared for at home by Jackie.