How to die with less fear and anxiety: planning end-of-life care and living funeral services can help a person feel in control
- Dying well is a worthy goal and there are many organisations and professionals who can support and help plan a peaceful ending
- Documentary ‘The Last Ecstatic Days’ shows how a brain cancer patient had an uplifting, loving end with people who provided hospice care and spiritual support
Can dying be a good experience? An upcoming documentary, The Last Ecstatic Days, considers this question as it chronicles the final days of Ethan Sisser, a 36-year-old Jewish-American massage teacher and yogi who died on April 2, 2021.
Diagnosed with brain cancer in 2019 and isolated during the Covid-19 pandemic, Sisser wished to die surrounded by a community, even if they were strangers.
Sitting alone in his hospice room in Charlotte, in the US state of North Carolina, he started live-streaming his journey on social media. Several people took notice and started to follow it, admiring Sisser’s courage in sharing his experience, and his curiosity and honesty about what was happening to him.
He wanted his final days filmed, until his last breath, to encourage discussion about death.
The Last Ecstatic Days shows Sisser’s determination to be positive and present, and to accept the experience of dying in its entirety.
Dr Aditi Sethi is a hospice physician and end-of-life doula who helped Sisser move to a house in Asheville, in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, where Sisser’s wish to capture his end of life on film could be fulfilled.
