Readers on Adrian Chiles’s article about his father’s death and the unique sense of privilege that they also felt in similar circumstances
I’m so sorry to hear about Adrian Chiles’s dad (It is a privilege to be present when someone dies. If only I’d seen it that way, it would have helped me no end, 10 April). It’s an incredibly sad time that I don’t think you can ever be prepared for. I sat with my mum while she died. She’d been ill with Alzheimer’s for a few years and lost her life at just 59. It was horrible.
But in the days after her death, I remember thinking that while it was awful and incredibly difficult to see (her death was a drawn-out one – she never did like saying goodbye), it was also a privilege to be there. I’ve never said that to anyone before writing this letter. I’ve never heard anyone else say it, so to read that really resonated with me, and I am grateful to Adrian for sharing it with us.
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