Reply #17: Sigh. [View All]

A man in my church, early 30's, 4 children between 3months and 10 years old, high six figure salary, really great insurance - so he thought - found out he had late stage non hodgkins lymphoma. He was told it was not curable and if they could keep him alive for 2 years it would cost him close to half a million out of pocket - even with his insurance.

He opted to immediately sell the fancy house and buy a more modest one his wife would be able to pay for and maintain by herself. He opted to take only comfort care rather than fight it. He died in 6 months and did so peacefully knowing he left his family with some sort of nest egg to survive on without him - and that his kids, if they remembered him, would remember the better part of him not the sickly part of him. Most people aquainted with him only casually didn't understand why a big strong man like that would just lay down and die instead of fighting for every day of life with his kids that he could get.

Terminal illness and modern medicine leave us between a rock and a hard place. Medicine can do so much and enables us to squeeze even more days out of our short lifespans. But in my own personal life, and with other people I know, I sometimes wonder if what we put ourselves through, medically and emotionally and financially is really the right thing.