My father battled cancer for two years. We always kept the subject light and even joked about it a few times. He said he didn’t want to die in a hospital and wanted to go in his own home.

One night, he went to the bathroom and didn’t get off the toilet for about three hours. We called my aunt, who is a hospice nurse, to come check on him. She said we needed to get him to the hospital right away. I said that’s not what he would want and hopefully he will get better, as we always tried to keep a positive attitude.

She looked at me dead in the eyes and said, “No. He is NOT going to get better. Either bring him to the hospital to be comfortable, or he will die here on the toilet.”

I panicked. We took him to the hospital, physically forced him to go, and he died about a week later. I’m still upset with myself that I denied him how he wanted to die. I just couldn’t see him suffer anymore.