Family Stories – Evelyn Landes

That Evie was still alive surprised everyone. That she could take any pleasure in her family and friends was almost unfathomable.

Before starting on hospice she had been gravely ill with congestive heart failure. Episodes of dementia were robbing the large, boisterous family of the intuitive, impish soul who showered love on five grandchildren. After repeated bouts of pneumonia, Evie had been given a week or two to live. A doctor in the hospital suggested hospice.

Evie’s husband, Nat, got angry. Whatever the doctor said and however he said it, Nat heard it to mean, “She’s old, let her go. Let hospice warehouse her at home.” As long as Evie had the capacity to engage in life, to look forward to anything, Nat wanted to keep her alive. He never imagined that hospice would turn out to be the best way possible to do that.

Read Changing the Way We Die to find out how hospice helped Evelyn Landes survive to meet her great-grandchild.