People and Personalities

Ali Rainback, 36, from Kimpton in Hertfordshire, was diagnosed with a brain tumour in November 2007 and died at the Hospice of St Francis in Berkhamsted on June 22.

The owner of a successful skiing business, New Generation Ski School, in the Alps, Ali loved mountains, sports, adventure and travelling the world and lived half his year in France and the rest of his time back at his Hertfordshire home. He was due to be married on 11th July this year.

Together with his mother Diana, his father Ian, brother Simon, sister-in-law Jo and his fiancée Jeanette, Team Rainback, as the family became known, helped keep everyone up to date and in touch via  their blog:

The site has already been visited over 70,000 times and has hundreds of postings and comments.  Throughout Ali's illness it provided a vital connection for the family to communicate with the hundreds of people affected by Ali's story around the world.

Ali loved mountains, sports and adventure

Diana Rainback told the BBC: "Everyone I speak to in the village has been on the blog or knows of it.

"It's something for people to focus on - a way they can help us too and a way of staying in touch.

Diana went on to say: "Ali was a very fit young man; he was a top skier, and a very inspirational young man.  He was diagnosed with the brain tumour last November, and unfortunately it progressed very, very quickly.

Talking about the care Ali received at The Hospice of St Francis, Diana said: 

"Ali had the most wonderful care.  I was able to stay with Alistair both day and night for seven whole weeks while they looked after him. 

"We had a lot of laughs and a lot of fun. Words can't express what a magical, magical place it is, and just how grateful the family are to them.

Chocolates and champagne at the Hospice

"We cannot speak too highly of the loving care we received from everyone at the Hospice. We will remember this forever as a very precious time in our lives and be eternally grateful that such a beautiful place and such special people are around to help us now and in the future and we thank them all from the bottom of our hearts."

"However, what most people don’t realise is that the Hospice is entirely free for the patient, which means that all the funding has to be raised by charity.  The standard of care is just tremendous, they have fourteen beds, but can actually only fund eleven of them.  So we are determined to do all we can to help."

The Hospice of St Francis costs £3.3m to run and receives less than 22 per cent funding from the NHS. There are three beds still to open due to lack of funds. These could offer 100 more people hospice care when they need it and keep people out of hospital.

In the few weeks since his death, £17,000 has already been raised for the Hospice of St Francis.  But the family hope to raise £100,000 - enough to open a new bed in the hospice in-patient unit.

A dedicated website has been set up by the Rainback family to help collect donations on behalf of Ali for the Hospice: