"I want to talk to you about how it feels to spend your whole life grieving, to have your ghosts precede your actuality, to feel that nobody you know will ever truly know you because they never knew him. To recycle fourteen years of material like a song that never gets old, because you’re just so frustrated that there’ll never be a new album, even though everybody else is probably sick of the song and likes your new songs so much better. I want to talk to you about how I got free".
Facing life’s end with grace. #EOLC #HPM
"In the end, the more people are ready to have the talk, the more likely it is that the medical industry will offer care that accounts for the vast, nuanced, and fluid decision points facing patients who are short on time.
Dying, after all, is complicated, hard business, and dying well is more complicated, and harder".
In ‘When Breath Becomes Air,’ Dr. Paul Kalanithi Confronts an Early Death.
"Part of this book’s tremendous impact comes from the obvious fact that its author was such a brilliant polymath. And part comes from the way he conveys what happened to him — passionately working and striving, deferring gratification, waiting to live, learning to die — so well. None of it is maudlin. Nothing is exaggerated. As he wrote to a friend: 'It’s just tragic enough and just imaginable enough.' And just important enough to be unmissable".
"Before I go". ~ Dr. Paul Kalanithi
"Time for me is double-edged: Every day brings me further from the low of my last cancer relapse, but every day also brings me closer to the next cancer recurrence — and eventually, death. Perhaps later than I think, but certainly sooner than I desire. There are, I imagine, two responses to that realization. The most obvious might be an impulse to frantic activity: to “live life to its fullest,” to travel, to dine, to achieve a host of neglected ambitions. Part of the cruelty of cancer, though, is not only that it limits your time, it also limits your energy, vastly reducing the amount you can squeeze into a day. It is a tired hare who now races. But even if I had the energy, I prefer a more tortoiselike approach. I plod, I ponder, some days I simply persist".
Supporting Grieving Preschoolers. The Dougy Centre.
"Explaining death to a young child can feel overwhelming and intimidating. These tips may help you navigate how to talk with and support grieving preschoolers after a death".
What Would You Write If You Knew You Were Dying?
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Writing for the future. Recording conversations Rachel has a passion for honest conversations, and recognises the precious and precarious nature of life. She supports families when an adult develops cancer and helps those at the end of life to tell their story.
"When life runs out of tomorrow's, what you realize you've got is today" ~ Rachel L. Smith
Before the tomorrow's run out, use this opportunity today to think about what you will you say to your loved ones... And then say it...