There’s no hierarchy in pain when it comes to death, but there’s no denying, losing a child as a baby is a new parent’s nightmare. This week, Matt Cunninham shares his experience of losing his daughter Molly.
Losing a child – a dad’s story
Death and dying
Pam’s story: caring for my dying dad
This week, Pam Diamond shares her uplifting story of caring for her dying dad. We hope these intimate stories from friends of Final Fling will help others going through challenging times.
“A couple of days ago I enjoyed an early morning walk on the beach to clear my head.
Death workshops – my experience
Death workshops give you the opportunity to explore aspects of yourself that often don’t get a voice or space.
This week, Phil Goss, from Cumbria shares his experience of a Death Workshop. This might help you if you’re thinking about attending one.
Connecting with mortality
Do you ever ponder your mortality? Yep. Me too. You might be interested to hear from our friend Bobby at Working Pictures in New York shares news of their campaign, Mortal on Indiegogo.
Difficult conversations: young people and death
If you are close to young person who has a life-limiting condition – you might find this new guide to having conversations with young people about death helpful: Difficult conversations, by Together for Short Lives and the National Council for Palliative Care:
Assisted Dying Bill: urgent request
This week I’m making an urgent request to pick up a pen and urge members of the House of Lords to support The Assisted Dying Bill on 7 November.
The Bill would give us the right to choose to end our life if we felt its quality was so diminished that death would be preferable and two doctors agreed we were of sound mind and able to make an informed choice for ourselves.
Assisted Dying Bill
Find out progress on the Assisted Dying Bill in an update from Sarah Wootton Chief Executive, Dignity in Dying.
Death and hope
3 out of 4 of us will die on a predictable trajectory… poor health, ageing, diagnosis all leading to the inevitable. What role does hope play in facing death?
Death and loss
Death and loss It’s a sad truth, but the fact is we’re all living and we’re all dying. As difficult as it may be to accept, death is an inevitable part of life. At Final Fling we don’t waste time dwelling on the negative of this, instead we see death as the counterpoint that makes […]
Regrets of the dying
As an ethos, we’d rather promote the rock’n’roll, Je Ne Regrette Rien approach to life. To help with this, we can learn from others.
Traumatic Death
While there’s no hierarchy to grief and no competition in loss, evidence shows that traumatic death may have a profund and lasting impact on those left behind.
Resuscitation
If your heart stopped, would you want to be resuscitated? If you are not ill at the moment, this may not seem very relevant but if your beliefs or wishes mean this is really not OK for you, you should record this.
Dignitas
At the moment, the only route to a chosen death for people in the UK is to fly to Switzerland. Dignitas in Zurich is the clinic many recognise by name.
Dignity in Dying
Final Fling doesn’t sit on the fence around death and dying. We’re on the side of choice. So we love the work Dignity in Dying is doing.
LGBT + dying
If it’s hard for your average Jo(e) to face the end of life and get the ‘good death’ we all deserve, how does it work for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people?
As human beings, we’re all different. We all need to have our needs met and be recognised as an individual.
Multiple Learning Disabilities and Death
If death and dying can be overwhelming for the strongest and most able among us, what does that mean for people with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) and their carers?
Death of a pet
Pets are an increasingly important part of family life and for many people living on their own, a pet can be their ‘significant other’.
Death of a baby
What a sadness. The loss of a baby… at any point in the pregnancy, at the time of birth or before you get a chance to know each other better. Remembrance photography can be a helpful part of the healing process. To get a photo of you together before you say goodbye. There’s a lovely […]
Suicide
Suicide is on the increase. For every 1% increase in unemployment there’s a 1% increase in suicide. The official approach within the caring professions is to respect the individual’s right to choose and many more social workers and medical staff are trained to support people who are suicidal.