“without vulnerability, you cannot access love.

And love, it’s to risk grief and losing.”

That, in essence, describes the complexity of, yes, there is sadness working in palliative care, but there is also so much love.

A teenager is going to approach grief and their parent dying the way they would approach other aspects of life, and it may not be text book perfect response but that’s the capacity they have at the time. And it reminds me again of the radical acceptance and compassion as healthcare providers we must have for our patients and their love ones.

She walked the delicate line in balancing hope for more time, with the understanding that she is dying, in a way that I have never seen before.  Walking this fine line is incredibly difficult, and she did it with conviction and grace.

They understand perfectly her condition, he himself battled with cancer. But it’s the intensity of their love, still strong decades later. His desperation of wanting her to be alive, and conversely her will to be alive for him, that maintains their hope and desire for life.