How do we approach death whilst embracing life? How can we change the conversation around death and palliative care for the terminally ill?
Filmed during the last 2 weeks of Philip’s life, this intimate portrait reveals his quest to find purpose and meaning in what he called “The Death Zone”. He had been diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus in 2008 and was given three months to live in the summer of 2011.
Philip believed that for the terminally ill and those close to them, there can be moments of joy, resolution and inspiration just as intense as those of fear, discomfort and sadness.
More from this series
| Title | About the article |
|---|---|
| Part 1: Death Unites Us All | Traditional societies were closely connected with nature’s continuous cycles of birth-growth-decay-death, and marked these rites of passage with specific and well-established rituals and sacraments. Modern society seems to have lost this close contact with these natural cycles. |
| Part 2: Five Stages of Grieving | Dr Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, one of the world’s foremost authorities on the subject of death, describes the four stages of Denial, Anger, Bargaining and Depression that people pass through when coping with any severe loss, including their own death. |
| Part 3: Cancer’s Five Shocks | With cancer, there are five major ‘shocks’ that a person/ his family has to deal with. |
| Part 4: What Actually Happens at the Time of Death | Caring for a dying person, especially at home can be difficult and daunting. |
| Part 5: Top Five Regrets of the Dying | Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them. When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five. |
| Part 6: How to Die Before You Die | Perhaps the most exciting and empowering aspect of death is that it resets your clock to zero. By sharply ending what has gone before, it creates space for a new beginning – a rebirth of sorts. |
| Part 7: Quotes | We share some quotations (compiled by Arun Wakhlu) on the subject of Death |
| Part 7: Video (When I Die) | How do we approach death whilst embracing life? How can we change the conversation around death and palliative care for the terminally ill? |
