inspiring Death & End of Life Conversations
A write up of Death Cafe Newtown
Thanks to all who attended last Sunday: provocative, life affirming conversations on topics as broad as addressing the disconnect and missed opportunities at end of life- families struggling with moving from hope that a cure will be found/ disease prevention and all the medical interventions that can entail to accepting the opportunity for quality of life in the precious time still left and filling it with love and happy memories or simply the chance to bring peace..... A paediatric doctor gave her take on this whilst medical students gave us hope in the system of the future with doctors that were more compassionate in outlook and in the delivery of terminal diagnoses... To a brave beautiful woman who was still coming to terms with being revived and living after being pronounced clinically dead four years ago and what life was like now- would she do anything differently? She said probably not, she was still the same person who looked after the welfare of others, before she died but that she was not the same in other ways hard to articulate.....to a man who has painted many wonderful murals in emergency and other hospital/ oncology departments to distract and inspire, create pleasant environments and help with pain management for patients.... To authors and others with loved ones and parents nearing end of life- such a rich and interesting array of stories, opinions and as always: much food for thought and discussion and inspiring to see and hear people's honesty and authenticity in this area. Thank you all so much for coming.