Story #7: Don’t hide from each other [1] Posted 18 Feb 2022
This is one story in a series of 15 on End of Life.
Angie was forty-four, and her mother meant everything to her – more, she said, than her own husband and children. Angie’s mother, Helen, had developed multiple metastases from advanced breast cancer, and her liver, spine and hip all had new tumours. When I met Helen in the hospital, I observed how frail and weak she was. She revealed to me that she knew her lifespan was limited.
Angie was agitated and tense when we met soon thereafter. “Whenever we visit Helen’s doctor he says she is going to get better,” Angie told me, “But the nurses in the hospital say her condition is terminal. So tell me: is my mother dying or not?”
Complete your reading on Don’t hide from each other
[1] Extracts from Facing Death and Finding Hope:
A Guide to the Emotional and Spiritual Care of the Dying By Christine Longaker, Broadway Books, New York 2001, 262 pp
