Living With Dying

When my mother died from cancer in December 2015, I was hoping she would have the sort of peaceful death we see in movies – she opens her eyes, says something profound, then her head falls to the side and she is gone. 

Unfortunately, my mom’s death was nothing like that.  I was completely unprepared for the struggle that she seemed to go through as her spirit left her body.

On top of that, I had a lot of  concerns about what our little family (Mom, her best friend Sue, and me) went through with care providers and the death care system prior to her death.  I became obsessed with topic in the weeks and months following her death.

Fortunately, I worked in an industry where a little obsession can go a long way!

With a remarkable show of support from the newspaper I worked for – The Caledonian-Record – I spent a year exploring the strengths and weaknesses of our current death-care system.

The goal is to help other caregivers navigate the system so that when they get to the other side of the experience, their sense of self is still intact.

The series ran every other Tuesday from May 2016 through May 2017.

The original series can be found at www.caledonianrecord.com/living_with_dying.