DESPITE her cancer, Kemp Hospice gave Julie Smith her pride and dignity back.

Her mother Jean has told of the sensitivity of Kemp Hospice staff and the confidence her daily visits gave her.

Julie, who died last July at the age of 31 after being diagnosed the previous September with cervical cancer, felt such gratitude towards the Sutton Park Road hospice she did an 80ft sponsored abseil and raised £3,000 less than two months before she died.

And the new expanded £2.2 million hospice, due to be completed in 2004, would have made her final weeks easier for both her and her mother.

Mrs Smith, 53, of Jackson Crescent, Stourport, said: "The staff were so friendly and supportive and they knew when to leave her alone if she wanted to be quiet and do the crossword."

Services available at the hospice - which will be expanded and supplemented when the new facility opens - boosted Julie's confidence.

"She was very shy and she was very down before she went. But she had her hair, make-up and nails done. Some people lose their hair with chemotherapy and it's not nice to go to a normal hairdresser.

"I've never seen her so smart as when she was going to Kemp. And there was always something going on. She went to have a pub lunch, and there was a puppet show that she loved."

As Julie became increasingly weak, she was treated at a Wolverhampton hospital - which would have created real problems if her mother had not had a car.

The new Kemp hospice will have specialist inpatient care that will allow some people to stay overnight and remain closer to their family and friends.

Mrs Smith, who works at Kemp's Kidderminster shop, also cared for Julie at home but she describes the experience as "nerve-wracking".

"I had to keep phoning up the primary care trust if the painkillers weren't working. If she could have gone to Kemp it would have given Julie that bit of security.

"And they cared for her mind, not just her cancer."