Time is precious when you face a life-threatening illness. This book is an informed and compassionate guide to making the most of that last lap of life’s journey, designed to help people handle the demands and limitations of illness so that they can focus on living as well as possible in whatever time they have.
Written by a doctor specialising in palliative medicine and a counsellor with many years’ experience of working with families facing life-limiting conditions, Lap of Honour is packed with practical advice to help address the difficult questions, such as what does my diagnosis mean? How do I tell people? Can I travel to my bucket list destinations? How can I help my loved ones cope and remember me best? The co-authors – palliative medicine expert Dr Pippa Hawley and counsellor Gaby Eirew, creator of RecordMeNow – have drawn on their experience of working with patients and families to create a guide to help people handle the practical and emotional issues that arise after a diagnosis. It is designed for people who need jargon-free, realistic information quickly, delivered with a positive, life-affirming attitude.
What the book covers:
Introduction
Chapter 1 How long have I got? Diagnosis and Prognostication
Chapter 2 How can I face the unknown? Dealing with the fear of dying
Chapter 3 How do I tell them? Breaking the news to children and adults
Chapter 4 Time to travel: the practicalities of travelling with illness
Chapter 5 Putting you in Charge: advance care planning & substitute decision makers
Chapter 6 Home, hospital or hospice? Deciding where to be at the end
Chapter 7 Setting up home: organizing your home to meet your needs
Chapter 8 Caring for your carer: how to ensure that carers are sustained and appreciated
Chapter 9 The finance questions: health insurance and the costs you face
Chapter 10 Nutrition, complementary and alternative treatments: what helps and what doesn’t
Chapter 11 Celebrate your life: holding a living wake
Chapter 12 Creating a legacy: helpful ways to leave supportive meaningful messages
Chapter 13 Near death experiences: what it’s like to die, as far as we know
Chapter 14 What happens to bodies? The body during and after death
Chapter 15 Suicide, euthanasia and medically assisted dying: what these mean
Chapter 16 Tapping into support: amazing groups that are available
Livestream about the book
In January we hosted a livestream covering the main chapters from the book. Watch a recording here.
Meet the authors
Gaby Eirew MBE is a counsellor, educator and a recognized world expert in what key messages parents should leave for their children. Gaby has directed two charities, been on the Board of Hospice and presented a weekly hospital radio show. Gaby has been awarded Outstanding Philanthropist, Charity of the Year, and Women of the Year commendations. Gaby trains medical students and lectures worldwide on dying well, the way you wish. In 2012, she created Recordmenow.org, a video-recording, question-prompting app, which has helped tens of thousands of people to leave messages for their loved ones. The RecordMeNow app is used in more than 32 countries.
Dr Pippa Hawley founded the supportive and palliative care service at British Columbia’s cancer program in 1997 and remains its medical director. She is also a clinical professor and head of the Division of Palliative Care at the University of British Columbia. Pippa has a busy clinical, research and teaching practice, and designed the innovative ‘Bowtie Model’ of integrated palliative care, in an effort to break down the misperception that palliative care is only for people in the last few weeks of life. This has been adopted throughout the world, such that her name is recognizable to many professionals in palliative and hospice care worldwide. In 2011, Pippa created the ‘Bucket List Festival’ in Vancouver, which has become a regular event and taken up in other places. These are organized by a variety of community groups, for people facing end of life issues to meet others going through similar experiences, and to receive supportive information, ideas and advice.
Testimonials
“Beautifully put and tremendously approachable; I am so glad someone has written such an approachable book that gently and tenderly discusses this critically important topic. I found the book quite uplifting despite the seriousness of the subject and plan to recommend to many of my patients.”
Dr JF MD, Palliative Psychiatry, New York USA
There were lots of things we were able to do to make the most of our time together, all suggested by this wonderful resource. Thank you for a book that deals head on with the things we are so often afraid to talk or even think about, and thank you for helping us navigate this part of our friendship.”
“This book should be required reading for everybody, not just healthcare professionals and their patients. Both inspirational and thought provoking at the same time, it deals with the situations and emotions that we felt when our lives were touched by the recent, untimely death of a loved one. We coped by blindly stumbling our way through, but the practical and honest way that the advice in this book is presented, would have made their end of life and the continuing lives of those of us surrounding so much more bearable if we’d been able to learn from it, at that terrible time. We cannot recommend it highly enough.”
M & L, England
“An important guide to a journey we will all have to make.”
Bruno Huber, author, Vancouver Canada