People often look at me with horror when I tell them my story, share with them my experiences of death and dying, and I suppose that, objectively speaking, by the time I was sixty I had had perhaps more than what might be considered my share of
Read story →Experiences
I was not given any time to grieve
My mom passed away over 20 years ago, I was only 15. And 3 months later I had to leave my country to migrate to Canada, therefore separating me from my siblings. I felt that I was not given any time to grieve, but also forced to
Read story →The most joyful and painful day
Losing my dad the same day in fact almost exactly 12 hours after the birth of my grandson was the most joyous and painful day I’ve experienced.
Read story →The kids used their emergency kit
About 5 years ago a team of nurses was supporting a 40ish year old man in his palliative care. He wanted to die at home with his family. He had 2 young children and he had very high chances of bleeding out. The nurse worked with the
Read story →Regret… it found me anyways
I was not prepared for my mom’s diagnosis. I was not prepared for her to die. The 5 1/2 months of her illness felt unreal and its only now…4 1/2 years later… that I can see how I did not and could not internalize that she was
Read story →I remember going into a panicked shock
I was seven years old when I first experienced death. My cousins sat me down, because the adults were arguing and angry. Some of them were even crying. I asked my cousins what happened, they said our grandfather fell down the stairs back home and died bringing
Read story →I adored visiting you both
I visited you both in Long Term Care because I wanted to …not because I had to. I adored visiting you both. When dad was gone then I visited just mum…suffering from Alzheimer’s but always her beautiful, calm self. Miss you both.
Read story →The care he needed to live at home
It was a joy to watch John live for the 4 years he had after diagnosis. Helping him organize his travels, the care he needed to live at home was important to all his friends. He talked openly about how he found a way to live with
Read story →You held on for as long as you could
They said I didn’t need to keep coming to see you as often because you didn’t remember my visits – but they were wrong, you held on for as long as you could for me and in your last moments of life, your smile when I walked
Read story →Dementia is such a hard illness
My mom died a year ago after a 7 year journey with dementia. While extremely difficult to watch in real-time, the loss of a woman I admired for her intelligence, joy of life, love of language and devotion to her children, I learned to treasure when she
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