Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
Audiobook3 hours
Jennifer's Choice: A Right to Die Story
Written by Dawn Stilwell
Narrated by M.H Kan
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
()
About this audiobook
November 13th, 2021 will be forever burned into my memory. That day, my sister passed away via medical assistance in dying, after an 18 month battle with metastatic breast cancer. Medical assistance in dying became legal in Canada in 2016. Since then, thousands of terminally ill patients have taken advantage of their right to die. I never dreamed that my own sister would be one of them.
Early in the pandemic of 2020, my youngest sister Jennifer received the diagnosis of Stage IV inflammatory breast cancer at the age of 49. Her family and friends were witness to the depth of her inner strength and determination as she faced a barrage of cancer treatments. There was chemotherapy, surgeries and radiation; each one bringing with it the hopeful goal of helping to beat the cancer into remission.
In the summer of 2021, about 15 months into her cancer journey, it became evident that Jennifer was facing a losing battle. If all that medical science could offer her were treatments that diminished the quality of her life ,while doing little to beat back the cancer, she really saw no point in continuing them. She opted for palliative care only, knowing that the cancer would now run its course, unimpeded.
Being fiercely independent, Jennifer despised the very real prospect of soon becoming an invalid who could no longer care for herself. She faced the likelihood of an awful death in hospice as the cancer wreaked havoc in her body. She chose medical assistance in dying, taking back a modicum of control in a situation where she otherwise had none.
Jennifer's Choice is the poignant story of the final year and a half of Jennifer's life, and chronicles not only her experiences, but also those of her family as we supported her to the best of our abilities under the circumstances. Consider the philosophical and ethical questions raised by her choice, and how we navigated the unknown waters of medically assisted suicide.
Related to Jennifer's Choice
Related audiobooks
Up for the Fight: How to Advocate for Yourself as You Battle Cancer—from a Five-Time Survivor Finding Myself ... Facing Cancer: Making Meaning in the Midst of Multiple Health Challenges Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJust Get Me Through This: A Practical Guide to Coping with Breast Cancer, Newly Revised and Updated Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Living at the End of Life: A Hospice Nurse Addresses the Most Common Questions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Have I Cheated Death?: A Short and Merry Life With Cystic Fibrosis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Mild Touch of the Cancer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Doctors Get Cancer Too: A Doctor's Diary of Life and Recovery From Cancer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Patient: A Humorous Memoir of Healthcare and Healing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShe Danced with Lightning: My Daughter's Struggle with Epilepsy and Her Boundless Will to Live Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Her Beautiful Brain: A Memoir Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Doctor's Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Removalist: On the Front Line of Death Care Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cancerland: A Medical Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Holiday SOS: the Life-Saving Adventures of a Travelling Doctor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fortune Teller's Prophecy: A Memoir of an Unlikely Doctor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bald is Better With Earrings: A Survivor's Guide to Getting Through Breast Cancer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Cannot Be Undone: True Stories of a Life in Medicine Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSaved by a Stranger: Life-Changing Journeys of Transplant Patients Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Get Me To 21: The Jenna Lowe Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Laughing Through The Shift:: A Nurse’s Guide To Finding Light In The Dark Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHere, Where Death Delights: A Literary Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Nurse's Story: My Life in A&E During the Covid Crisis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Helpers: Profiles from the Front Lines of the Pandemic Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Crossing the River Sorrow: One Nurse's Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cancer, You Picked The Wrong Girl: A True Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5At the End of Life: True Stories About How We Die Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Committed: Dispatches from a Psychiatrist in Training Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sorry For Your Loss Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Saving Each Other: A Mother-Daughter Love Story Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Medical Biographies For You
The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Young Doctor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On Vanishing: Mortality, Dementia, and What It Means to Disappear Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All in Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us About Women’s Bodies and Why It Matters Today Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Life Is a 4-Letter Word: Laughing and Learning Through 40 Life Lessons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Facing the Unseen: The Struggle to Center Mental Health in Medicine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Year of the Nurse: A 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In Shock: My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Big Lie: How One Doctor’s Medical Fraud Launched Today’s Deadly Anti-Vax Movement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In My Own Way Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Tennis Partner: A Doctor's Story of Friendship and Loss Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unthinkable: An Extraordinary Journey Through the World's Strangest Brains Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi - Book Summary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Women in White Coats: How the First Women Doctors Changed the World of Medicine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Because We Are Bad: OCD and a Girl Lost in Thought Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Home Before Morning: The Story of an Army Nurse in Vietnam Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Thousand Naked Strangers: A Paramedic's Wild Ride to the Edge and Back Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The People's Hospital: Hope and Peril in American Medicine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Trippy: The Peril and Promise of Medicinal Psychedelics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient: Reflections on Healing and Regeneration Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Healthy Brain, Happy Life: A Personal Program to Activate Your Brain and Do Everything Better Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5God in the ICU: The inspirational biography of a praying doctor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hospital Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Every Deep-Drawn Breath: A Critical Care Doctor on Healing, Recovery, and Transforming Medicine in the ICU Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Oh Sh*t, I Almost Killed You!: A Little Book of Big Things Nursing School Forgot to Teach You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related podcast episodes
Episode 73: Hospice: When the best human impulses get twisted by profit motives 0% found this document usefulLet Goals, Grit, and Growth Catapult You Into a Brighter Future 0% found this document useful1: Trailer - The Cursbiders Addiction Medicine 0% found this document usefulWho Watches the Weight Watchers? 0% found this document usefulKeeping It Cool: Understanding Targeted Temperature Management in Critical Care Nursing 0% found this document usefulMothers Part 1 0% found this document useful#318: Is it a STEMI or NSTEMI?: Learn the difference between STEMI and NSTEMI with Straight A Nursing. 0% found this document usefulEp 104 - Is Menopause Brain Based? 0% found this document usefulS3 Ep33: Here’s to The Ladies Who Time Travel 0% found this document useful
Related articles
The Doctor Who Revolutionized Hospital-Birth Safety The AtlanticUNLIMITED
The Doctor Who Revolutionized Hospital-Birth Safety
May 26, 2017
5 min readAn Act of Love and Desperation The AtlanticUNLIMITED
An Act of Love and Desperation
May 5, 2020
13 min readA Cardiologist’s 9/11 Story NautilusUNLIMITED
A Cardiologist’s 9/11 Story
Sep 13, 2018
The morgue was inside Brooks Brothers. I was standing at the corner of Church and Dey, right next to the rubble of the World Trade Center, when a policeman shouted that doctors were needed at the menswear emporium inside the building at One Liberty P
14 min readThe New Transplant Revolution TIMEUNLIMITED
The New Transplant Revolution
Aug 27, 2016
10 min readHollywood’s Cat Women The Australian Women's WeeklyUNLIMITED
Hollywood’s Cat Women
Jun 19, 2019
7 min read‘An App Saved My MENTAL HEALTH’ Simply Woman & HomeUNLIMITED
‘An App Saved My MENTAL HEALTH’
Dec 29, 2022
2 min read'The Moment Of Lift' Is More Of A Whisper Than A Call To Action NPRUNLIMITED
'The Moment Of Lift' Is More Of A Whisper Than A Call To Action
Apr 23, 2019
3 min readWhen Your Body FIGHTS ITSELF Woman's Weekly Living SeriesUNLIMITED
When Your Body FIGHTS ITSELF
Oct 3, 2019
4 min read20-Something Stroke Survivor On Recovery, The Brain And Parenting With Physical Challenges NPRUNLIMITED
20-Something Stroke Survivor On Recovery, The Brain And Parenting With Physical Challenges
Oct 5, 2017
2 min readFindings Link Gut Bacteria And Fibromyalgia FuturityUNLIMITED
Findings Link Gut Bacteria And Fibromyalgia
Jun 19, 2019
3 min readNo One Really Knows What to Do With All of America’s Unclaimed Corpses The AtlanticUNLIMITED
No One Really Knows What to Do With All of America’s Unclaimed Corpses
Feb 12, 2019
5 min readI Am A Mother TIMEUNLIMITED
I Am A Mother
Mar 5, 2018
1 min readAn Aspirin A Day Doesn't Prevent Heart Disease What Doctors Don't Tell You Australia/NZUNLIMITED
An Aspirin A Day Doesn't Prevent Heart Disease
Sep 28, 2022
1 min readWhat Was Inside Me? ChatUNLIMITED
What Was Inside Me?
Sep 22, 2022
3 min readFrom The Eye of The Storm: A Personal Account of Stage 4 Cancer Best Self MagazineUNLIMITED
From The Eye of The Storm: A Personal Account of Stage 4 Cancer
Nov 14, 2017
5 min readLiving With An Open Heart Longevity MagazineUNLIMITED
Living With An Open Heart
Nov 24, 2019
6 min readAdversity’s Gift Reader's Digest UKUNLIMITED
Adversity’s Gift
Jan 16, 2024
I’M ALWAYS WARY of the tired old mantra, “If it doesn’t kill you, it’ll make you stronger.” I mean, what about polio? Or whiplash? Or loads of other horrible things that if you survive you’re left scarred in one way or another. I think it’s a tired c
2 min readWhen My Favorite Patient Turned On Me, I Learned A Lesson In The Emotional Work Of Doctoring STATUNLIMITED
When My Favorite Patient Turned On Me, I Learned A Lesson In The Emotional Work Of Doctoring
Aug 7, 2019
I’ve learned that the work of medicine, the real work, is remaining emotionally within reach of my patients.
3 min readThe Care Women Really Need TIMEUNLIMITED
The Care Women Really Need
Oct 25, 2019
I LOST MY GRANDMOTHER AND MY MOTHER TO BREAST CANCER. I remember once holding my mother’s hand, as she was receiving chemotherapy, when she started to turn purple and I had to race to get the nurse. Now there are new ways to identify which chemothera
5 min readThe Silence Doctors Are Keeping About Millennial Deaths The AtlanticUNLIMITED
The Silence Doctors Are Keeping About Millennial Deaths
Jul 5, 2024
6 min readWarrior Women WHOUNLIMITED
Warrior Women
Apr 2, 2020
7 min read‘I Thought The Nightmare Would Never End’ Woman's Day Magazine NZUNLIMITED
‘I Thought The Nightmare Would Never End’
Oct 30, 2022
3 min readPhases Of Depression MASK The MagazineUNLIMITED
Phases Of Depression
Feb 15, 2021
6 min readEarly Detection Saves Lives True LoveUNLIMITED
Early Detection Saves Lives
Oct 2, 2020
5 min readGratitude: The Balm We All Need Right Now Best Self MagazineUNLIMITED
Gratitude: The Balm We All Need Right Now
Apr 16, 2020
3 min readElle ‘What I’ve Learnt About Motherhood, Cancer, Sobriety And Wellness’ The Australian Women's WeeklyUNLIMITED
Elle ‘What I’ve Learnt About Motherhood, Cancer, Sobriety And Wellness’
Sep 2, 2024
11 min readLife After breast Cancer GoodUNLIMITED
Life After breast Cancer
Oct 6, 2021
8 min readHow a Kidney Stone Taught Me That Medicine Has Changed Me STATUNLIMITED
How a Kidney Stone Taught Me That Medicine Has Changed Me
Oct 19, 2017
To me, a kidney stone wasn't really a big deal. But to my husband, it was a family crisis, and it taught me how medicine has changed me.
4 min read“Mum Won’t Face Dad’s Sexual Abuse Of Me As A Child” PsychologiesUNLIMITED
“Mum Won’t Face Dad’s Sexual Abuse Of Me As A Child”
Jan 28, 2020
Q My mother and I have been estranged for five years, due to me revealing childhood sexual abuse by my father. She and my dad refuse to acknowledge the abuse (other relatives have also confronted him). She has been manipulated and controlled by my fa
4 min readEmbracing The Waves MASK The MagazineUNLIMITED
Embracing The Waves
May 1, 2020
5 min read
Reviews for Jennifer's Choice
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
1 rating0 reviews