For most families facing an end-of-life situation, hospice care is a blessing. For Rickey Joe Keeling’s father, it was also the gift of time with his father.

“Dad was a WWII vet who fought in the Battle of the Bulge,” says Rickey. “He had that instinct that you don’t give up. Plus, he was a minister, so many of those visits with nurses and caregivers turned more into worship than anything else.”

“They all developed a very close spiritual friendship. It was special.”

Rickey Joe’s father needed hospice and home health care to ease the effects of terminal prostate cancer from 1996 until his death in 2001. That care inspired Rickey Joe to become a loyal donor to Mercy Health Foundation Lourdes. He wants everyone to have access to these services.

“I got to see firsthand how much they care for people,” he says. “Hospice plays a vital a role in people’s lives during a challenging time. I don’t know what we would have done without them.”