Emotional affect of Terminal Illness in Middle Adulthood

So, what I chose to write about in this blog kind of snuck up on me again. I was talking to my mother about how I wrote about her friend that died of cancer in my last blog. She was telling me that the most difficult part of watching her friend go through cancer was how much it changed her. My mother said that her friend, Faye, was one of the strongest, most determined people she ever knew in her life. She said that throughout the majority of her illness she knew without a doubt that she would "beat it". My mother was saying that Faye was very optimistic about the illness and about her ability to come out of it on top. Faye was one of those people that succeded at whatever she put her mind to. She was always very successful at everything else she attempted in her life and had no doubt that this obstacle would be any different. My mother told me that until three weeks before she died, she maintained this attitude. When she finally knew the fight was over, she was so upset and viewed it as a battle that she lost. My mother was saying that watching Faye go from the confident, successful, optimistic person that she had always been was so hard. She said that it was like the illness broke her down piece by piece but it never prevailed until it broke her spirit. When I was listening to my mother talk about this aspect of terminal illness, it really got to me. For the family, it has to be so hard watching someone you love change, not only on the outside, but also lose parts of their personality that make them who they were. For the person living with the terminal illness, it has to be horrible to know that you have fought as hard as you possibly could and to no avail. I wanted to write about this because it was a part of terminal illness that I had not even thought about yet. I am beginning to think I could write about this subject forever and never cover every aspect of it.