HW 19 - Family Perspectives on Illness & Dying

Illness and dying in my lifetime is a somewhat familiar topic. I almost drowned in the ocean when i was only 7 years old. I have always been afraid of death and have tried my best to maintain a healthy lifestyle. As mentioned before my cat died of cancer when i was 11 and my grandma died last year. When both died i was overwhelmingly sad. My cat was cremated (although i never asked why) and my grandma had a traditional jewish funeral. At the funeral i was asked to speak upon my grandma and her life in general. I noticed that this a social practice seen a lot, where at the funeral people close to the deceased are asked to speak their mind.

Illness and dying in my family is definitely a familiar subject. My dad had hands on experiences with illness and death even as a kid. At age 11 my dad was declared dead because of a serious illness, although in fact he obviously was not dead. The people that raised my dad were basicaly in denial about what brought about their death. Most of my dad's friends died at 50 (including his parents) just from not living healthy lifestyles. This included not exercising and smoking ciggarettes. We discussed the idea of prolonging peoples lives when there is no hope of that person ever recovering. We both agree that if people want to do die, that is their choice (this lead us to talk about Dr.Kevorkian and that whole issue, but then we got off topic). We agreed that life and death are all part of the same fabric.

My mom had hands on experience with death as well. She had many family members (more specifically aunts and uncles) who died of cancer as well as acquaitances. Her father died very suddenly and very unexpectadly at a relatively young age of 55 of a massive heart attack. This effected her profoundly and made a lasting impact on her life, the event changed her so much that she couldn't go back. Her mother was raised of a jewish decent, so they often had ways of approaching illness and death. Her parents were very emotional and vocal, there was a lot of physical emotion and a lot of crying. Her family did not engage in the typical social practices of death such as open casket funerals. Although her father died a relatively young age her parents took very good care of themselves and had common sense health practices. Her mother especially had the "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" attitude.

In conclusion, both my parents and i have witnessed illness and dying first hand and it has been very traumatic for all of us. We all agree that illness and death are horrible experiences and we as a family try to avoid it all together by eating healthy and exercising daily. While i know that i don't eat particularly well, i try to balance out what i eat between junk food and healthy food.