My mom's best friend, Peggy Swift, would have turned 88 today. She died in February in Hawaii, where she had moved several years ago to be near her two favorites in life: her children and the sun. Peggy called my mom almost every morning in…
OfficialWire News Bureau reports today that a global study shows that the "United States now trails 40 other countries when it comes to risk of newborn death with a newborn death rate of 4.3 per 1,000 live births. In 1990 the United States had the…
My sister Janice and I have been tracking for years how crazy people, and things, seem to get the last week of August. Part of it might be a weird grief process as we bid farewell to summer, the season of light, in many ways.…
Many cultures believe in the healing power of water: most religious traditions use water as a primary symbol of new life, renewal, change, power. A program called Healing Waters has unique healing properties for our recovering veterans: through fly fishing. Started in the Washington, DC…
The National Institutes of Health released a report today showing that half of the cases of bladder cancer, in both men and women, can be attributed to smoking. It used to be just 30 percent for women but "the researchers estimated that smoking is responsible…
An intriguing study, released by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, found that 800 U.S. military personnel who committed suicide had low omega-3 levels. Omega-3 is a fatty acid found most commonly in fish and linked to increased heart health and mood improvement.…
Friday, unofficial photographs were circulating in Web world allegedly showing Steve Jobs of Apple fame walking out of a hospital, skeletal looking. For those of us who have seen people in the last weeks or days of their lives, it's no mistaking that the man…
Aging brings surprises: we do not recover as quickly or as easily from ailments. Sometimes we end up with illnesses that are chronic: congestive heart failure, arthritis, bursitis. English novelist, Aldous Huxley, wrote: “Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do…
A report yesterday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention included these statistics/facts on death by murder. 1) An estimated 50,000 persons die annually in the United States as a result of violence-related injuries. 2) The CDC classifies suicide as murder. And a majority…
Susie Leonard Weller of Liberty Lake, a stage 3 colon cancer, who has taught parenting, family management and workplace success skills for the Community Colleges of Spokane for more than 19 years, will share some of her wisdom with the Inland Northwest community. Here are…
This past week, I've listened to several people who are dealing with loss and needed to just vent awhile, with nothing from the peanut gallery -- me. I was so thankful for the course I took at GU during my pastoral ministry studies, titled "Pastoral…
In the St. Aloysius Church bulletin Sunday, there was an obituary of Jesus, written in newspaper style from the "Lake Galilee Gazette." Not sure who wrote it, but here's what it said: Jesus, son of Joseph. Age: 33. Born in Nazareth, Galilee, of Joseph, carpenter,…
My friend Chris awoke Monday morning to the discovery that her blue Passat had been stolen out of her garage. The garage door caught on a garbage can and was accidentally left open all night. She lives in a very nice Mead-area neighborhood, has a…
In our EndNotes column yesterday, Cathy wrote an excellent explainer concerning music-thanatology, basically harp music played in the hospital rooms of the sick and dying. When my mom's wonderful companion of four years, Hollis Ladd, was dying at Sacred Heart Medical Center three years ago,…
The Associated Press is reporting that singer Amy Winehouse, discovered dead at 27, had no illegal drugs in her system when she died. Now the focus is on the alcohol that might have contributed to her death. But her father, Mitch Winehouse, said that the…
This blog about end-of-life issues enables us to track here other things that come to an end, such as technology items and lifestyles. In today's Spokesman-Review, I wrote about the end of the train hobo lifestyle. People don't ride the rails anymore. Why? Railcars are…
In yesterday's Spokesman-Review, my favorite obituary was that of Yekaterina Sergeyevna Makhanova, an 85-year-old immigrant from the former Soviet Union. She was born in the Ukraine and moved, in 1996, to Deer Park and then Newman Lake "be with her children here in America." She…
German researchers report that specially-trained dogs can now detect lung cancer – more accurately than a CT scan – by sniffing patients' breath. How do they do it? “Lung cancer patients breathed into glass tubes that contained fleece to capture the odors of the specific…
My dad was described as a “downtown kind of guy.” He loved to walk through the Minneapolis skyways at noon. Strolling through the department stores and walkways on his way to lunch, he’d say hello to people he knew, and give us the details: “I…
Yesterday, I attended the funeral of Giovanni Pelle, father of Dan Pelle, one the newspaper's amazing photographers. Giovanni was Italian-American and famous for his spaghetti sauce. He used this cooking talent for the greater good. As his obit read: He made the best spaghetti sauce…
The news out of University of Pennsylvania this week about their serial killers caused me to weep. "Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania transformed patients' own white blood cells into 'serial killers' capable of annihilating cancer cells within the body. The two patients who experienced…
I stopped into the Safeway store on Northwest Boulevard on Spokane's North Side last night around dinnertime, and it was packed, five or six deep in line. I asked the clerk if it was because it was a Thursday evening and maybe people were planning…
Do you believe in miracles? Our pets love us and offer comfort and care – without condition. Imagine the joy in recovering your pet one year after a fatal car accident took away your husband and child. May Caesar live a long and happy life…
The Associated Press reported today on a study published in the August issue of Archives of Suicide Research: A movie analysis shows depictions of explicit and graphic suicides tripled from 1950 to 2006. An analysis by Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center of 855 top box…
In today's EndNotes column, we addressed this dilemma: When you give a memorial contribution in honor of someone who has died, does the nonprofit tell the family how much you coughed up? Short answer: Nope. Question for our readers: Do you regularly give memorial donations…
Spokesman-Review features writer Rebecca Nappi, along with writer Catherine Johnston of Olympia, Wash., discuss here issues facing aging boomers, seniors and those experiencing serious illness, dying, death and other forms of loss.
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