10 Ways to Cheer a Friend who is Dying of a Terminal Disease

I know it’s hard to deal with the fact that your friend is dying. But think again. Imagine how terrible your friend must be feeling. She must be heartbroken but at the same time she wouldn’t want to live the last of her moments mopping around the house worried of the hand of death that will touch her sooner or later.

Here are ways to make the most of those last few months or weeks with your beloved friend:

• Take a trip together

Spend time with your friend. Do stuff that she always wanted to do. Visit places that she has always wanted to visit. She might never get the chance to visit them so make visiting places your first priority. Once she reaches the last stages of her disease her mobility might not be the same.

• Cook her food

Chances are that she will not have it in her to cook a meal. Cook for her so that she can eat it immediately or freeze it for later use.

• Visit her often

Try to keep things as normal as possible. Talk, laugh and spend a lot of time together. What a dying person usually faces in her last days is loneliness and the thought of dying alone. Make her feel loved and wanted. Talk about things other than her illness. You have to keep things as normal as they can be.

• Go shopping

If your friend is suffering from a disease like cancer, she might need new clothes and even a scarf to cover her thinning hair line. Have a fun day out shopping, just like you used to do in the old days. Nothing can lift anyone’s mood better than shopping.

• Accompany them on their visit to the doctor

Visiting the doctor can be stressful for your friend. Do give her your support by accompanying her on her visits to the doctor. Hearing what the doctor has to say might be painful to hear and it can be a good thing to support your friend in this emotionally trying time.

• Set up their office at home

Most patients dying of an illness cannot spend long hours in office. Get her office mates to set up an office at home so that she can continue her work at home.

• Do their chores and run errands for them

Your friend might not be able to do the normal things that she could. But she would want her family to run normally. Till they get around to figuring out how to do things by themselves, you can help your friend with her household chores like cleaning, laundry and feeding the pets. You friend will appreciate this more than anything.

• Babysit the kids

If you friend is lying in the hospital for treatment, she can’t get the kids to tag along, especially in a place infested with tons of viruses. So stay back at her place and take care of her kids for a few days.

• Do things together for the cause

Now that you know how serious the disease is and you know how many people in real life get affected by this disease, it’s time to do something for the cause. Raise money for these terminally ill patients by hosting an awareness campaign in the form of a marathon or walk.

• Listen

Your friend will be in a lot of pain and might even go into depression. She will need someone to hear out her fears and pains. Be there to listen to her anytime she needs. Let her vent out her heart to you. Trust me patients who are happier in their last moments live longer than the time set out by the doctor.

When you find out that your friend has a terminal disease go and connect with her. You might just be the friend that helps her get through this journey from terminal illness to death in a happier way.

Written by: Rasha Ashraf