AS specialists in end-of-life care, Sobell House Hospice comforts many patients who might not make it back home.

Andrew Barton was not expected to be among those.

Though his liver cancer was terminal, the motorbike-mad 54-year-old was told during his time on the ward - as doctors had told him before - that he still had months left to live. He died just days later.

His wife Debbie Barton, who lives in Witney, said: "He was taken in to adjust his medication until he wasn't in pain.

"They said if he wanted to go home he could, but because it's such a nice pleasant place he decided a couple more days wouldn't hurt. I don't know what happened that weekend."

Mr Barton had already overcome unrelated lung cancer 17 years earlier, before being diagnosed with terminal liver cancer in August last year.

The illness lived up to its notoriously unpredictable nature when it took a turn, giving doctors just a few hours' notice before his death on October 18.

Mrs Barton, 56, has been helped through the shock of her loss by the Headington hospice's bereavement team.

She said Mr Barton would be remembered as a 'kind and generous man', adding: "He would drop anything to help someone. It was a testament to him that was never short of visitors."

Mr Barton was a longtime father figure to her two children, now both in their 20s.

In the last years of his life he rode a Harley Davidson; his passion for the machines marked on the way to his funeral, when dozens of motorbikes led his hearse.

Mrs Barton takes comfort in the care he received during his 10 days at Sobell House, which she described as 'an amazing place'.

The office worker said: "Nothing is too much trouble; the care is so personal. He was surprised that he could have a drink from the alcohol trolley given that he had liver cancer. It's little touches like that. It really makes a difference."

Mrs Barton got to know staff as she checked in daily on her husband, who co-ran a commercial paint business.

She said: "The volunteers would come and offer a cup of tea or ask if you wanted to order food. I could sit and eat lunch with him."

Mrs Barton took part in Sobell House's winter walk at Blenheim Palace last month, joining 350 people who strolled around the grounds to support the hospice.

She also had collection tins for the charity at her husband's funeral, and is even contemplating braving a sponsored skydive.

She said: "There are lots of worthy charities but which one do you pick? The one that means something to you."