“I did everything to realize his dream”.
Death is the last great mystery that we will all face one day. We do not know when we leave or what awaits us afterwards, so it is normal to feel fear and uncertainty in the last moments of our existence. Especially when you spend your end of life in the hospital. This is why the work of nurses in palliative care is so important: they accompany people at the end of their lives in this painful stage and help the entourage to better understand the inevitable.
The end of life is also the time for a dying person to realize their last wishes, so as not to have regrets in the afterlife. “”During my experience, I learned that people who are going to die have little wishes or very accessible wishes (…) Generally, these are things that we have for acquired, but which have become impossible for these people“, says Ineke Veldboer, a nurse to the dying and co-founder of the Ambulance Wens Foundation, a Dutch charitable association who helps the final patients to make their last wish. Many wishes concern a last return home, farewell to loved ones, eat your favorite dish, review the sea or see animals in a zoo.
“”My older patient was 101 years old and her last will was that she wanted to ride a last time. I did everything to realize his dream. With the agreement of the family, the hospital and with the help of another qualified nurse and several firefighters, we moved it on a stretcher, hoisted on the horse for a few moments, then we gave him a carriage ride. She greeted everyone like a queen. He was adorable wish“She says in a BBC podcast.
After riding a horse for the last time in her life, the woman regained new energy and was more peaceful. She died a few weeks later, serenely, with this radiant memory. “”This story deeply marked me, it taught me that we can find happiness in little things, and that this is what we have to tend, rather than desire what we have not“, Continues the nurse.
