Detail
- Artist: Francois Smit
- Published in: The Sunday Independent
- Author of article: Anne Lamott
- Date: 30/05/2006
- Paper: 280gsm 100% cotton acid free paper
- Ink: Epson ultrachrome archival pigment ink
- Image Size (printarea): 594mm x 420mm
- Frame: Optional
- Edition: Limited edition of 12
A short extract from the article
Euthenasia - Going gently into the evermore
The man I killed did not want to die, but he no longer felt he had a choice. He had gone from being tall and strapping, full of appetites and a brilliant manner of speech, to a skeleton, weak and full of messy needs.
He and his wife still loved each other very much, but he'd lost the ability to do the things he had most loved during their 30 years together: cook and overeat, hike and travel. He had always been passionately literary, but he was losing the ability to read and write. Both elegant and down-to-earth, he was 60 when he was diagnosed with cancer.
One day he'd been like the rest of us, comically forgetful, trying to live as fully as he could while trying to slow it down, and attempting to get through it all without too much difficulty. Then, stomach pain, headaches and, like sudden bad weather on vacation, months to live.
Everyone recommended that he contact a hospice provider to help with pain management, but this was not his way. If it was just his body deserting him, maybe. But his mind? His ideas? His self? . . .
Going gently into the evermore
