Ending with Dignity

I got in last night after dinner with family and was going to quickly check Facebook because a friend had sent a text and wrote he posted a funny video on his page about a mutual friend.

Cracking up with laughter after watching it, I started to browse my Home page, was about to close it when a post with a link caught my eye... "51 hours to live..." I had to reread the title as it startled me in my mood of joviality. How can that be? How does this person know?

With a little apprehension, I click the link and started to read the string of comments. Turns out he knows because that is when he is ending it. He is 39 and has lymphoma that has pretty much taken over most of his body. He has lived in pain for some time and lost his dignity because of what the disease does to the body.

With heartache, he watches his family being dragged into the pools of depression, sadness and darkness. He wants light. He wants smiles. He wants normal, considering the circumstances.

I don't know him but what he wrote and how he touched thousands of people in mere hours, blew me away.

He had sent his family away to get dinner so he could have some time to interact with others before he left so he went to the site, decided to have a "world tour" and started a conversation with anyone, anywhere in the world. What followed was something I am sure he did not expect.

He wants to end his life with any remaining dignity he has, alone and pain-free because he has endured do much with the disease. "Who I was doesn't matter. I'm in pain, I'm tired and I'm finally being granted a small shred of respect."

His screen name is Lucidending and this is his story.

He has since lost his password and cannot log back on but what he left behind in words and how he touched people in such a short time is amazing. It is heartbreaking yet very inspiring to read.

Edgar the Fish was so touched by his story and his "world tour," that he created a map on Google that people can comment and check in to.

If you want to add your location, go to the map, you can follow the instructions or if you have a Google account (same as Gmail account), write a comment and it will automatically tag your location on the map.

Come Monday evening around 9PM Pacific time, please say a prayer for him and his family as he takes his leave and goes home.

For more info on Oregon's Death with Dignity Act, click the link.