In this moving and compassionate classic—now updated with new material from the authors—hospice nurses Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelley share their intimate experiences with patients at the end of life, drawn from more than twenty years’ experience tending the terminally ill. Through their stories we come to appreciate the near-miraculous ways in which the dying communicate their needs, reveal their feelings, and even choreograph their own final moments; we also discover the gifts—of wisdom, faith, and love—that the dying leave for the living to share. Filled with practical advice on responding to the requests of the dying and helping them prepare emotionally and spiritually for death, Final Gifts shows how we can help the dying person live fully to the very end.
For more than two decades, hospice nurse Maggie Callanan has tended to the terminally ill and been a cornerstone of support for their loved ones. Now the coauthor of the classic bestseller Final Gifts passes along the lessons she has learned from the experts—her patients. Here is the guide we all need to understanding the special needs of the dying and those who care for them. In her work with thousands of families, Maggie Callanan has witnessed the tears, the love—and the confusion and conflict—this final passage can evoke. Now, with honesty, compassion, and even humor, she empowers patients and their families to write the last chapter of their lives with less fear, less pain, and more control—so that all involved can focus their energies on creating the best possible ending. From supporting a husband or wife faced with the loss of a spouse, to helping a dying mother prepare her children to carry on without her, Callanan’s poignant stories illustrate new ways to meet the physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges of this difficult and precious time. She brings welcome clarity to medical and ethical concerns, explaining what to expect at every stage. Each brief chapter also conveys a home truth about making crucial treatment decisions, supporting the patient’s dignity and individuality, and lightening the burden on caregivers. Final Journeys is designed to be your companion, resource, and advocate. From diagnosis through the final hours, it will help you keep the lines of communication open, get the help you need, and create the peaceful end we all hope for.
A recurring theme of the public discourse on immigration in Europe today is that migrants are primarily young people, of working age. Against this short-sighted view, the main contribution of this book is to propose that processes of ageing and dying constitute a critical juncture in the settlement of migrant-origin communities, precipitating novel intercultural negotiations in societies characterized by post-migration diversity. Bringing together seven studies reflecting different institutional and (trans)national contexts, the chapters fall under two main themes. A key issue when facing death is the organization of adequate care for the dying, which may be a challenging task in pluralized settings involving both migrant patients and migrant carers. Facing the end of life furthermore involves the practice of rituals in order to make sense of the transition from life to death. Whether through care or ritual, the studies presented here show that the need to reconcile different cultural, religious and administrative norms relating to death is infused with ontological insecurities which may result in new or renewed interrogations of identities and belongings. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Intercultural Studies.
The English explorer Henry Hudson devoted his life to the search for a water route through America, becoming the first European to navigate the Hudson River in the process. In Fatal Journey, acclaimed historian and biographer Peter C. Mancall narrates Hudson's final expedition. In the winter of 1610, after navigating dangerous fields of icebergs near the northern tip of Labrador, Hudson's small ship became trapped in winter ice. Provisions grew scarce and tensions mounted amongst the crew. Within months, the men mutinied, forcing Hudson, his teenage son, and seven other men into a skiff, which they left floating in the Hudson Bay. A story of exploration, desperation, and icebound tragedy, Fatal Journey vividly chronicles the undoing of the great explorer, not by an angry ocean, but at the hands of his own men.
What happens when we die?Is there simply nothing -- as some believe -- an eternal void? Or are we assured an afterlife? Few of us have not struggled with the question, for death is as certain and natural a process as life.Susan L. Schoenbeck has worked with patients at the edge of death for more than twenty-five years -- as an intensive-care nurse and a long-term care nurse, as a teacher of nurses, as a writer and lecturer. She has helped grieving families and individual patients who have entered that special realm between life and death and returned, who have encountered what we now call a Near-Death Experience (NDE), who have journeyed beyond life. She has witnessed the physical and spiritual sides of both life and death.From her own rich experiences, and by gathering those of others -- fellow nurses, doctors, patients, caregivers, emergency medical technicians, family members -- Schoenbeck has compiled this collection of more than sixty personal encounters in the special space between life and death -- or, as Schoenbeck views it, the final entrance.As Dr. Bruce Greyson says in the book's foreword, Final Entrance takes its meaning from the age-old metaphor, best known to us through Shakespeare's As You Like It, that 'all the world's a stage.' Schoenbeck dares us to think of dying not as an actor's exit at the play's finale, but as another entrance, perhaps for a final act not for public viewing.Many of the stories in this book are about near-death experiences. Some are about people experiencing spirit form outside their bodies. Others are about earthly visits of people who have recently died. Many people at the edge of death see and talk to family members longdeceased, and others find ways to say goodbye to loved ones far away. Some, journeying beyond life, choose not to return, resisting medical efforts to prolong life. In all these stories, there is the realization that death is not a final chapter but a transitional period, the entrance to a very special spiritual world. It is the spiritual side of the death process that Schoenbeck writes about in this book. As she says, Ask people who have had a close brush with death, 'Do you believe in life after death?' They reply, 'I don't just believe. I know.'Reading Schoenbeck's book will be a fascinating and telling experience for all readers, and it will hold a special meaning for her fellow nurses and caregivers everywhere. By working with people at the edge of death, and sharing those experiences with others, she helps all of us to understand and appreciate the very process of dying -- and by understanding, we lose fear of death and gain a new appreciation of life.
2020 Banff Mountain Book Competition Finalist in Adventure Travel In Journeys North, legendary trail angel, thru hiker, and former PCTA board member Barney Scout Mann spins a compelling tale of six hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail in 2007 as they walk from Mexico to Canada. This ensemble story unfolds as these half-dozen hikers--including Barney and his wife, Sandy--trod north, slowly forming relationships and revealing their deepest secrets and aspirations. They face a once-in-a-generation drought and early severe winter storms that test their will in this bare-knuckled adventure. In fact, only a third of all the hikers who set out on the trail that year would finish. As the group approaches Canada, a storm rages. How will these very different hikers, ranging in age, gender, and background, respond to the hardship and suffering ahead of them? Can they all make the final 60-mile push through freezing temperatures, sleet, and snow, or will some reach their breaking point? Journeys North is a story of grit, compassion, and the relationships people forge when they strive toward a common goal.
A powerful, biblically based model of leadership development based on the life of the Apostle Paul All churches, denominations, and parachurch organizations are eager for new models of leadership development. Cole uses the life and leadership lessons of the Apostle Paul to show how to develop leaders who are skilled, dedicated, and always open to learning from experience. Cole, a trusted, innovative authority, uses the four journeys of Paul to shows how leaders can grow to be more influential. A publication from the acclaimed Leadership Network Paul, the original “church planter,” was very instrumental in the growth of Christianity—and a perfect model for today’s leaders. Shows how Paul’s leadership developed over the course of his life to get better and better with time and maturity—and how they can do the same.
This journal was written during the last year of Henri Nouwen's life, ending shortly before his death in 1996. In it, he describes his struggles with other people, his difficulty discerning what God intends for him, the direction his ministry is to take, and, woven throughout the book, are the continual, endless and beautiful themes of God's reconciling love, the Eucharist, forgiveness, friendship and love.Three weeks after writing his final words of this book, Nouwen died following a heart attack.
This new history reveals the previously untold story of why and how trains have been used to transport the dead, enabling their burial in a place of significance to the bereaved. Profusely illustrated with many images, some never previously published, Nicolas Wheatley's work details how the mainline railways carried out this important yet often hidden work from the Victorian age to the 1980s, as well as how ceremonial funeral transport continues on heritage railways today. From royalty, aristocrats and other VIPs (including Sir Winston Churchill and the Unknown Warrior) to victims of accidents and ordinary people, Final Journey explores the way in which these people travelled for the last time by train before being laid to rest.
