Our most recent stories come from the South: Alabama, Missouri, and Texas.
Do you have Death with Dignity story to tell? Please share it with us.
Reese: Let Me Decide
Reese is a retired nurse in Springfield, Missouri.
I’ve experienced death from many angles, starting with a family cursed by cancer. For me, it’s not a matter of if but when I’ll be told I have cancer in some form. I’m a 56-year old daughter, sister, wife, mother, and now grandmother. I’m also a retired nurse with a career lasting 30+ years. I’ve cared for family, friends and multitudes of patients during their final days and have seen the toll death can have on everyone involved.
There’s a haunting memory engraved in my mind from each and every death I’ve witnessed, but none more so than when my Mom passed.
Jenny “Coopdizzle” Cooper: To Peacefully Fall Asleep
Jenny “Coopdizzle” Cooper is a mother, wife, and cancer fighter in San Angelo, Texas.
Being hooked up to machines, drugged up so I don’t know who I am, who my children are, or who my husband is, or that I’m even there, for weeks and months, she says, “would do much more damage to my family than if I were to gather everybody around, say goodbye, tell them that I love them and that I’m going to miss them…and peacefully fall asleep in the arms of my husband…”
Shameeka Linson: To Pass Peacefully
Shameeka Linson is a substitute teacher in Auburn, Alabama.
My grandmother died two days before her 60th birthday after a long battle with lung cancer. She had been a heavy smoker from the age of 15. The first warning came when the doctor discovered major blockage in the arteries of her heart. A stint was put in place. A few years later she began experiencing pain in her chest and back. It became so severe my mom had to rush her to the emergency room. After the x-rays and lab results, the physician came in to break the bad news that she had lung cancer. It was a downhill battle after that.
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