another newspaper letting a patient tell her story

A few weeks ago I told you about The Seattle Times and its series following Gloria, an 11 year old battling childhood cancer. This week, I came across a series on The Oregonian which was also allowing a patient to share her dying weeks. But this story was very different. The story followed Lovelle Svart, who had terminal lung cancer. But this was not a story about a woman dying from cancer. You see, Oregon is the only state in the United States that allows physician-assisted suicide. This was the chronicle of a patient going through the process to choose "death with dignity."

The link to the series is here http://next.oregonianextra.com/lovelle/about.

Lovelle's story is part of a series called Oregonian Next. Here's how they describe the series: "The Oregonian wants to offer an online home where we can give voice to people who are going through transitions in their lives. They can offer a gift of experiences and wisdom that we all can learn from, whatever comes next."

Like Gloria's series, this series allows a woman to share her thoughts and feelings in her final weeks, and perhaps teach others in the process. Sometimes the best thing we can offer someone in a time of illness is the chance to be heard.