#human-kindness

#human-kindness

Every week, someone from our family, usually my mom, goes to Wendy's and gets six chocolate Frostys. With significant mobility and communication difficulties after multiple brain surgeries and a terminal diagnosis, Gretchen chose hospice care in January of 2025. Although many associate hospice only with care around the time of a person's death, it actually just means that the goal shifts from treatment to quality of life, however long that may be.

She was living in a small college town at the time and taken to a nearby hospital, where staff attended to her and took away her shoes to prevent her from fleeing. They eventually left her unattended and after a few hours, Stacia decided to leave. Without telling anyone, she slipped away undetected. Shoeless, she walked until she reached a nearby road, where she stuck out her thumb for a ride.

Laurence is a woman in desperate need of an act of human kindness. A hug, a cuddle: that is all she needs to keep at bay the nightmarish visions that haunt her.