Adding more life to our years

COMMENT | I visited a friend who was being treated for a rare form of ear cancer. “What will you do when you fully recover from your radiotherapy?” I asked. He replied: “Slow morning walks in the park with my wife, and just cherish the moments together.”

My friend will fill each day with a joy that does not hunger for more, but rest satisfied with what life has given them in their 50 years of marriage. Another day is a bonus. They will live in the present and not dwell on the inevitable.

Yes, it’s adding more life to their remaining time, getting busy living in spite of imminent death shadowing their days, just as Dr Paul Kalanithi wrote in "When Breath Becomes Air".

Kalanithi died at age 37 of lung cancer in 2015, just after completing his training as a neurosurgeon at Stanford, California. I read his poignant short autobiography with recollection of the weeks I spent with my brother, who died from pancreatic cancer in March...