With more than six years of battling cancer under her belt, it seemed fitting that Gaydon Willis addressed the crowd at King Solomon Lodge April 12 in an event hosted by Cochrane IDEAS.
The topic: learning how to die well.
Diagnosed with breast cancer six and a half years ago, the Cochrane Eagle columnist recently announced her decision to forego further treatment, instead choosing what she described as a scary but freeing path: embracing her last days.
“This new adventure of mine will show me how far and how little I’ve come in the process — there’s learning that comes with this,” said Willis prior to her speaking engagement. “There are many that don’t want to talk about death, but it’s something we all have to face.”
She said she hoped to leave the 32 audience members a little more comfortable with the concept of death and inspire them to live each of their days to the fullest.
“We spend so much of our lives working to gather all the things that we can’t take with us,” she said. “In the end, it doesn’t matter what size your house is, how much debt you have or what car you drive.
“What is really important are the small things in life — the stuff we all take for granted.”
Taking the time to heal rocky relationships should be high on the priority list, she said.
“I don’t want to go having regrets,” she elaborated. “In my last breath, I don’t want to be thinking about having a difference of opinion with someone. I don’t want to waste energy on what could have been or should have been.”
According to Andy Marshall of Cochrane IDEAS, Willis left attendees with an authentic take on life, health, hope and death.
“Her courage shone a light on our gathering,” he said.
For Willis, the decision to embrace her final days was motivated by her desire to make the process easy for her husband, her family and her friends. That said, she said the decision hasn’t been easy.
“There are times when I think, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t do this,’” she said candidly. “But I have to do this. It’s going to happen eventually. When I start feeling fearful, I refocus the fear and concentrate on enjoying my days.”
If you missed Willis’ conversation on learning how to die well, make sure to check out her monthly column in the Eagle. Past columns can be read at cochraneeagle.com.
