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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
No one should leave this world alone
Karen McClelland gets a warm embrace from her daughter Kathleen as they share their feelings of dealing with the news of Karen's terminal bone cancer. (RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store
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KAREN McClelland has terminal cancer.
There is no reason to mince words or avoid the inevitable that faces every human being.
"Dying is a very frightening thing. It is for me," she said. "I think it takes a special kind of person to take that information and run with it. I think you get better at dealing with it. Everybody dies a little differently because everybody lives a little differently.
"I would like to die well," she said. "But I don't know if I can. Let's face it, no one has come back from this."
However, of this much McClelland is certain: She does not wish to die alone. Or even face dying alone, a reality those in the palliative-care field say is far more common than the public would like to believe.
But reporter Randy Turner's story in this Saturday's FYI section isn't really about dying. It's about regular folks who step into the end-of-life void the 21st century has created. It's about total strangers who offer comfort and companionship to the Karen McClelland's of a changing world -- some closer to the end of their journey than others.
Are they Earth's angels? For some, perhaps. But they are also security guards, or landscapers, or retired elementary school teachers. All with a shared trait: the strong desire to ensure no one leaves this world alone.
Read the story in Saturday's FYI and check out the video now:
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 20, 2012 A2
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Updated on Friday, April 20, 2012 at 10:53 AM CDT: adds photo
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