When I set out to do this podcast, I wanted to find the answer to a question: What is it like to be facing the end? I wanted to hear the inspiring parts, the messy parts, and the mundane parts of living with a terminal illness. In this final episode, I reflect on what I’ve learned from these interviews and whether I’m any less afraid of death. Than…

When I started this podcast, I soon realized that I was exploring death from three different vantage points: from the view of people with a terminal illness, from my own as a healthy person, and from the view of a child learning about death for the first time. My son started asking questions about death when he was two. At first, I didn’t really kn…

What is a good death? And how can we talk about it in a way that honors a person’s values but doesn’t add pressure? In this episode, I talk with Dr. Annetta Mallon, an end-of-life consultant (or death doula), about the narrative of a “good death” and how she supports people when things don’t go as planned. She also discusses helpful ways we can tal…

Imagine you’ve been diagnosed with a terminal illness and are consumed by feelings of hopelessness, fear, and depression. What if there was a treatment that could help? Research has shown that psilocybin-assisted therapy can significantly reduce the existential distress associated with dying. Psilocybin is currently in clinical trials for this use,…

When 16-year-old Dylan Lawrence was diagnosed with a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, the deadliest childhood brain tumor, he said, “I don’t want my life to be pointless.” I was planning on interviewing Dylan for this podcast, but unfortunately he got too sick and died several weeks after our scheduled interview. But I still wanted to somehow capt…

After being cancer free for several years, Andrea “Mimi” Ankerholz found out that her breast cancer had come back and had spread to her bones. It was terminal. Her oncologist told her she had six to twelve months to live without treatment and maybe a little longer with treatment. After feeling like a “complete mess” while on radiation and hormone t…

When Dave Warnock was diagnosed with ALS several years ago, he quit his job, moved in with some friends, and decided to start seizing the moments he had left. Prior to his diagnosis, Dave was no stranger to big life transitions. After decades as an evangelical pastor, he gave up his faith and became an atheist. Now he devotes his time to speaking t…

Do you ever find yourself not knowing what to say to someone with a terminal illness? Maybe you want to show your support but fear you might say the wrong thing. These conversations can be tricky to have, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to figure out how to have them. People I have interviewed from previous episodes, including Clair Fisher, …

While Clair Fisher was on a work trip to the Cayman Islands a couple years ago, she had to fly to Florida for an emergency surgery. She would soon learn that the cause of her pain was advanced cancer. Clair now spends her time focusing on how she can live and die well. As part of what she calls her retirement project, Clair is advocating for early …

It’s been a while since I posted an episode, so I wanted to do a quick check-in. What an overwhelming year, to say the least. As this year finally comes to a close, I’ve been finding a lot of joy in watching my kids enjoy the magic of Christmas. Things are getting tricky though with my son’s questions about Santa. Spoiler alert: He wonders whether …

When my four-year-old son started asking me questions about our neighbor who was in hospice, I realized I was having a difficult time answering his questions about when our neighbor might die. This got me thinking: Can any of us accurately predict when someone might die? So I decided to reach out to Dr. Michael Fratkin, a palliative care doctor and…

After experiencing troubling symptoms for years, Jennifer Dunn refused to leave the emergency room until she had a CT scan. The scan and a subsequent biopsy revealed terminal colon cancer. Jen, a 41-year-old mom, shares how she started to think of her experience with cancer in trimesters. She would spend her first year pursuing aggressive treatment…

When Adam Hayden was 34 years old, he had brain surgery to remove a tumor the size of a baseball from his parietal lobe, the area of the brain responsible for motor control, sensory input, and spatial reasoning. During this procedure, Adam was not only awake, but he had to make a life-defining decision: Would he rather the surgeon stop the procedur…

During these unprecedented times, I find myself experiencing waves of emotions. How about you? How are you coping? In this episode, I reflect with my husband about the pandemic and the lives lost, what it’s like to talk to our son about death, and how to find balance. Music: “Walking Down the Street” and “Our Home” by Borrtex As always, thank you t…

Being human is pretty great. Our brains are large and sophisticated, which allows us to think and do things in ways that other animals cannot. With this intelligence, however, comes an existential burden: an awareness of our own mortality. In this episode, I interview social psychologist Sheldon Solomon. Sheldon Solomon is Professor of Psychology a…

In 1926, a 16-year-old girl was told that she was going to give birth to a stillborn. That baby was Manuel Antonio Santaella, and to everyone’s amazement, he was born alive. This was just the beginning of Manuel’s many brushes with death throughout his life. Hear how these experiences have shaped Manuel’s gratitude for life, as well as his relation…

While many of us may normally keep our thoughts about death at a distance, the Coronavirus pandemic is forcing those thoughts closer. In this episode, I interview Dr. Sunita Puri, the medical director of palliative medicine at Keck Hospital and Norris Cancer Center at the University of Southern California. She is also the author of a critically acc…

When Glenn Buckland was 55 years old, his wife told him, “You’re either going to the hospital or you’re going to the morgue.” After a series of tests, he was diagnosed with plasma cell leukemia, a rare and terminal cancer. But Glenn is not fearful of his death. He instead believes that it is something that can be celebrated. In this episode, you wi…

In this episode, I ask a doctor, a medical ethicist, social workers, as well as family, friends, and old coworkers about why it is so hard for us to talk about death and dying. I also share conversations I have had with my young son about the coronavirus and death and dying, and I share some exciting news from my own life. Thanks to my friends and …

John Low was diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis at the age of 95, giving him six months or less to live. His granddaughter thought he would be a good person for this podcast because of his frank attitude about living and dying. Hear the interview in this episode. The conversation will surprise you. Thank you to Kendra for all her support and for op…

How would you find people to interview with six months or less to live? Join me in this episode as I reflect on my process and explore the challenges of trying to find people to interview. I also have a conversation with my friend and old coworker, Lisa Stewart, about her work in hospice and her own personal experience of her mother dying. Thank yo…

Let’s do a thought experiment: Imagine you are in a room with someone who is dying. What would you want to ask? In this episode, I explore some of the questions I would want to ask, and I also interview my parents in an attempt to understand why I'm so curious about death and dying. Before they give me an answer, they turn the question around on me…

In this introductory episode, my son gives voice to his natural curiosity about death, and I share my own motivation for starting this podcast. 6 Months or Less will explore the thoughts and feelings of people who are nearing the end of their life. It hopes to shed light on a natural process that is often couched in euphemisms and medical jargon, t…

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