DYING: A Book of Comfort

Companion website about dying, bereavement, loss, grief — and aging with spirit

Stories, information, about death and dying

I started this page at the request of someone who wanted a particular story and now realize that it's not easy to find good stories of (or articles about) death and dying on the Web. I'll add more links as I find them -- and please tell me about any that you think I should consider.
~~ Pat McNees

"Angels from God": Stories of Organ Donation (Consumeraffairs.com)
Ask Judy. Do you, or someone you care about, know someone who is dying? Each Wednesday Judy Bachrach answers your questions or offers advice to the dying and those who care about them.

The Checkout Line (advice for dying, when sympathy isn't enough), Judy Bachrach
Choosing Your Own Exit (Tara Parker-Pope, NY Times)
Daniel, 1988-2000: A child's suicide, unending grief and lessons learned, by Sara Fritz (St. Petersburg Times)
Departing or Death Bed Visions (Carla Wills-Brandon, Caregiving)
A dying boy's wish: The story of Brenden Foster (CBS story about an 11-year-old boy's dying wish to feed the homeless)
A dying person's guide to dying (Roger C. Bone, MD, Hospicenet.org)
A final round of therapy (a dying patient has lessons for his therapist), Henry Grunebaum, MD, NY Times 10-5-09
The Final Journey (Hospice Stories about death and dying, Hospice.net)
For me to have a good day, somebody must die (Del Stone, Open Salon, on writing about death for a newspaper website and feeling guilty about his own gallows humor)

A Gentle Death: Five Months with Hospice (by Barbara O'Neil Ross, HFA)
Handbook for Mortals (full text online of consumer guide to end-of-life care by Joanne Lynn and Joan Harrold)
Helping yourself live when you are dying (Alan D. Wolfelt, Hospicenet.org)
The Honor Page (Tom Golden's website, where those who are bereaved can honor Children's Deaths, Parents' Deaths, Loved Ones' Deaths, or post a link to a memorial)
Hospice stories (Hospice Foundation of America)
How Many of You Expect to Die? (Jane Gross, NY Times)
Just One Last Swirl Around the Bowl (Dan Barry deals with the last days of his daughter's pet fish, Modern Love, NYTimes, 4-3-09)
Keeping a Promise When a Life Is Near Its End (Ellen D. Feld, MD, NY Times 11-10-08)
Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth, "On Death and Dying" (an interview conducted by Daniel Redwood)
The Last Goodnights (ABC story about, and long excerpt from, John West's book about the assisted suicide of his parents)
Last Words (famous last words, famous epitaphs, illuminations, famous farewells, and stories of last stands)

Living Consciously, Dying Gracefully - A Journey with Cancer and Beyond by Nancy Manahan and Becky Bohan (how Diane Manahan chose to live life fully at the end and die at home)

• Making Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat by David Dosa (about a cat who senses death and stays to comfort the dying, but also about Alzheimer's and geriatric care and nursing homes and being there, at the end of life)

Readings from plays and broadcast scripts (from the PBS series, The End of Life: Exploring Death in America)
Readings from novels and short stories (from the PBS series, The End of Life: Exploring Death in America)
Stories of Hope (James Redford Institute for Transplant Awareness)
Stories from the hospice nurse
The Ultimate Homework Assignment: Why We Need to Talk Openly About Death (Wendy R. Uhlmann, Newsweek, My Turn) -- We are often unprepared for the physical and logistical consequences of dying, but it doesn't have to be that way.
Waiting for death, alone and unafraid (Thomas Curwen, L.A.Times, about Edwin Shneidman, 90, who has written 20 books about death and says dying is easy. Living takes effort)
John West (author of "The Last Good Nights") tells why, and how, he assisted his parents with their suicides -- offering a first-hand account of the decision no child wants to face and explaining why he followed through on his parent’s desire to choose de
What an End-of-Life Adviser Could Have Told Me (Jane Gross, The New Old Age, NY Times)
What does someone dying need? (Rex Winsbury, Hospicenet.org)
What the Last Meal Taught Him (Kim Severson, NY Times, on Thomas Keller's last meal for his father, 10-27-09)
When My Mother Killed Herself (Hawley Roddick, Open Salon)

Stores that sell
DYING: A Book of Comfort



NAES bookstore, NIH Clinical Center, Bethesda (Building 10, Room B1L101, phone 301. 496.5272)

Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse
(upper Connecticut Ave., Washington DC)
Spectrum Center for Natural Medicine (Silver Spring, MD)

STORE OWNERS AND BOOKSELLERS:

Get in touch if you want to stock this title. E-mail pat at patmcnees dot com (in the usual format).

This is a wonderful gift book for families experiencing a serious illness or a death in the family. Often the serious illness doesn't end in death, but elicits anxiety, sorrow, and thoughts about the possibility of death.

"For those who face the lonely reality of death, this book provides understanding and much-needed solace."
Claire Berman, author of Caring for Yourself While Caring for Your Aging Parents
DYING: A BOOK OF COMFORT