Dying happy

We do not want to admit but someday we all mortal are going to die. In the past death used to be sudden, unexpected and relatively swift — the result of a violent cause, or perhaps an infection but with technology it is now common to prolong the dying process which some would argue that it is far worse than death itself. This issue of death, dying and the process of dying popped to my mind when I read this book in particular the story about Terry Fox.

As a runner I am amazed to read the story how Fox the One-legged Cancer Patient ran 26 miles a Day for 143 Consecutive Days. Basically he ran marathons daily for almost 5 whole months. I have never run a full marathon (my record was half marathon) but what is amazing was that Fox had one leg. In the 1980s people didn’t run on prosthetic legs, running on prosthetic legs was incredibly painful as one's stump would chafe and bleed. Fox trained for 15 months, running 3,159 miles, running until his stump was raw and bleeding, he ran every day for 101 days, until he could run 23 miles a day

Eventually the disease caught with him. He died but he knew that “If I die at least I’ll die happy doing what I wanted to do in life” as he wrote in his diary. I wonder that the story would be different had Fox experienced dementia. I would doubt that he would have run that marathon simply because he would just loss his memory. He would not know who he was and what he wanted in his life. How tragic

One of my favorite prayers is Hail Mary 

Mother of God, 

pray for us sinners, 

now and at the hour of our death  

I am sure we all would want Mother Mary to pray for us when we were the most powerless, the hour our death

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatoribus,
nunc et in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen.