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My Mom Has Terminal Cancer

David A. Harding

(Update, Thursday Morning) Mom died in the hospital before we got her home. (Obituary, Memorial Service Details)

On Monday, the doctors confirmed that Mom has lung cancer. They can't cure her. She's bad off. We're bringing her home later today, and in a few days, she'll die.

When I wrote my Gram's obituary, I read other obituaries, and inside my head, I criticized their writing style. Most of the sentences carried emotional verbiage. I thought, just say she was your mother and people will assume you loved her. Now every sentence I write that doesn't say I love my mom looks wrong.

But I need to say a few things to my friends—I know many of you read my blog—and I'll say these things as simply as I can:

Thank you, in advance, for your compassion.

There's nothing you can do now. I know that not being able to help makes you feel useless. We, the family, feel useless too. Sitting with her until she dies won't make us feel useful, but it's the only thing we can do.

If there's anything you can do, I'll call you.

If it's not important, please don't call me. I will continue to read and respond to my email (dave@dtrt.org) as often as I can.

I don't plan on blogging again until it's over.