As a part-time hospice volunteer, Eric Lindner
provides companion care to dying strangers. They're
chatterboxes and recluses, religious and irreligious,
battered by cancer, congestive heart failure,
Alzheimer's, old age. Some cling to life amazingly. Most
pass as they expected. In telling his story, Lindner
reveals the thoughts, fears, and lessons of those living
the ends of their lives in the care of others, having
exhausted their medical options or ceased treatment for
their illnesses. In each chapter, Lindner not only
reveals the lessons of lives explored in their final
days, but zeroes in on how working for hospice can be
incredibly fulfilling. As he's not a doctor, nurse, or
professional social worker, just a volunteer lending a
hand, offering a respite for other care providers, his
charges often reveal more, and in more detail, to him
than they do to those with whom they spend the majority
of their time. They impart what they feel are life
lessons as they reflect on their own lives and the
prospect of their last days. Lindner captures it all in
his lively storytelling. Anyone who knows or loves
someone working through end of life issues, living in
hospice or other end of life facilities, or dealing with
terminal or chronic illnesses, will find in these pages
the wisdom of those who are working through their own
end of life issues, tackling life's big questions, and
boiling them down into lessons for anyone as they age or
face illness. And those who may feel compelled to
volunteer to serve as companions will find motivation,
inspiration, and encouragement. Rather than sink under
the weight of depression, pity, or sorrow, Lindner
celebrates the lives of those who choose to live even as
they die.
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