I'd like to share a couple of true stories for potential role models.
There was the father of four daughters, the younger ones being triplets in their most tender teens, who was told he's got a deadly cancer and not many years ahead. Being a good father he made a deal with the daughters: He'd stay alive and kicking no matter what if the girls took care of their education. Only after the girls had proved they'd get along in their lives the father would accept the inevitable. He was such a badass that he hung around for about a decade, long enough to see his daughters graduate.
The second story may be a little of the strange side but it has a positive attitude. The guy in his fourties was told that he's got about a year ahead of him. At first his life would be pretty much normal, but when it starts to go downhill the slope would be steep. So the guy started doing things he had dreamed of until he felt that the symptoms were getting quite severe. So he arranged his own deathwatch, inviting all his friends and relatives he would like to see by his grave. Here in Finland a memorial dinner after the burial ceremony is quite common. The length can vary from a couple of hours to a lengthy evening depending on the beverage policy. This event apparently was of the longer ilk. As you can imagine the ambiance was quite stiff at the beginning with the "corpse" sitting at the end of the table amidst the mourners, but after a while the guests started giving speeches, one after another, telling anecdotes and how nice a guy the to-be deceased was. As one of the participants told me, it was the best deathwatch ever. It rarely happens that the subject of the memoirs thanks you for sharing! I'd like to think that when the guy was lying in the hospital bed, during his brighter moments he memorized and cherished all the nice things he had heard during his wake, making his last months easier. No one ever has told how much they've appreciated the loving speeches after they've been buried, this guy got all the good words into his hearing ears.
Cancer sucks, keep fighting!
