Facing the Final Days
Death with Dignity
Is Life A Boon?
Thomas Vincent Murphy 1928 - 1995
This may be a difficult picture to look at, but it says it all for me. The fear, the helplessness, the innocence that was Tom during those last months. Tom was the most fearless person I've ever known. This was not the way he wanted to die, but it is the death he got.
In spite of all the pressure to institutionalize him, I was able to keep him home until he died. I get a little crazy when people ask me if he knew who I was when he died. He knew he was loved and that is the only thing that mattered to me.
The value of observing the rituals of death with our people is a means to enriching not only the souls of those departing but our own. Sharing those last days with Tom was one of the most profound experiences of my life, rivaled only by the birth of my children, but then, my expectations allowed that to be so. It can be the same for you and yours.