The Ideal Death Show

Ideal Death Show and Good Funeral Awards 2015

So this weekend took me to London. A little outside of london is a quaint little English village called Winchester and for one day it becomes the hub of death in the UK. The Ideal Death Show, in its second consecutive year, brought fun, facts and deathly frolics.

Their approach to death seems to be quite tongue in cheek but factual which is nice and the village seem to embrace it.

First on my agenda was a public shrouding of  a live body. I’ve got to say I did not expect to get as emotional as I did when watching it but it seemd like such a beautiful personal final act for someone you love. I have often thought that coffins seem too impersonal – cold, detached and lonely. The shroud looked warm, comfortable and protective. The personal act of wrapping your loved one just seemed like you were caring for them like you would a newborn baby.

The fact that it is friendly for the environment and compatible with both burial and cremation was appealing also.

My disappointment of the show was the size of the exhibition. I expected a lot bigger. It was tiny and everyone looked a bit squished on top of each other. This made it difficult to collect your thoughts from one stand to another. There was the usual exhibiits and some unusual ones like a Viking Wicker Ship maker.

Dr Ken Murray "doctors die, they don't die like the rest of us"

An article by Dr. Ken Murray, an American general practitioner:

"It's not a frequent topic of discussion, but doctors die, too. And they don't die like the rest of us.

What's unusual about them is not how much treatment they get compared to most Americans, but how little. For all the time they spend fending off the deaths of others, they tend to be fairly serene when faced with death themselves. They know exactly what is going to happen, they know the choices, and they generally have access to any sort of medical care they could want. But they go gently.

 Of course, doctors don't want to die; they want to live. But they know enough about modern medicine to know its limits. And they know enough about death to know what all people fear most: dying in pain, and dying alone. They've talked about this with their families. They want to be sure, when the time comes, that no heroic measures will happen - that they will never experience, during their last moments on earth, someone breaking their ribs in an attempt to resuscitate them with CPR [cardio pulmonary resuscitation] (that's what happens if CPR is done right).

Almost all medical professionals have seen what we call "futile care" being performed on people. That's when doctors bring the cutting edge of technology to bear on a grievously ill person near the end of life. The patient will get cut open, perforated with tubes, hooked up to machines, and assaulted with drugs.

Some medical personnel wear medallions stamped "NO CODE" to tell physicians not to perform CPR on them. I have even seen it as a tattoo. To administer medical care that makes people suffer is anguishing. Physicians are trained to gather information without revealing any of their own feelings, but in private, among fellow doctors, they'll vent. "How can anyone do that to their family members?" they'll ask. I suspect it's one reason physicians have higher rates of ... depression than professionals in most other fields."

Michael Collins Funeral

"I nDíl-Cúimne ar Mícheál Ó Coileáin a fuir bás í Bean-na-mBlat an 22ad la de mí Lugnasa 1922"

 (In memory of Michael Collins who died at Beal na mBlath on 22nd August 1922)

Michael Collins 16 October 1890 – 22 August 1922) 

An Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance and Teachta Dála (TD) for Cork South in the First Dáil of 1919, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations.

He also became President of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and, therefore, under the bylaws of the Brotherhood, President of the Irish Republic.

Collins was assassinated in August 1922 during the Irish Civil War at an ambush of his journey returning from Bandon, the village of Béal na Bláth. Collins's men brought his body back to Cork where it was then shipped to Dublin. His funeral mass took place at Dublin's Pro Cathedral (St Mary's) with approx 500,000 people (one fifth of the country's population) attended his funeral.

 "In my opinion it gives us freedom, not the ultimate freedom that all nations desire 

... but the freedom to achieve it."

Michael Collins on the Treaty in debates.

The Time you have Left in Jelly Beans

The Disney Files - John Fiedler

 John Donald Fiedler (February 3, 1925 – June 25, 2005) 

Today is the 8 year anniversary of his death but his legacy lives on. The American voice and character actor had a distinctive, high-pitched voice which lead him to lead the character of Piglet in Disney's Winnie-the-Pooh productions.

Famous roles (other than Piglet) include :

• The nervous Juror #2 in '12 Angry Men'
• Vinnie, the meek poker player in the film 'The Odd Couple'
• Mr. Peterson on 'The Bob Newhart Show'

Born in Platteville, Wisconsin, a son of Donald Fiedler and Margaret Phelan a little known fact is that he enlisted in the United States Navy and served until the end of World War II after which he began his acting career in NYC. His career lasted more than 55 years - stage, film, television and radio.

• Films: True Grit, The Cannonball Run, Harper Valley PTA. 
• TV: Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, My Favorite Martian, Bewitched, Get Smart, The Rockford Files, Star Trek, The Golden Girls, Cheers, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Bob Newhart Show, Twilight Zone. 
• Voice work: Disney's The Rescuers, The Fox and the Hound, Robin Hood, The Emperor's New Groove, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The Tigger Movie, Piglet's Big Movie, Pooh's Heffalump Movie, Rascal.

Fiedler died aged 80 on June 25, 2005 in Englewood, New Jersey, one day after the death of his fellow Winnie the Pooh co-star (Tigger), Paul Winchell.

5 Regrets of the Dying

In her book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, Bronnie Ware, who worked in Palliative Care, describes some common 'regrets' that surfaced with patients as they neared their final days:

• I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. 
• I wish I didn’t work so hard. (mostly from male patients)
• I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
• I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
• I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Bill United

At the End of Life Forum in Croke Park last month, we were asked to watch this video and give our thoughts on it, some said it was too simplistic, some said it was patronising.

I personally enjoyed the story, the music, lack of vocals, the childish air to it,
What do you think of it?