A cancer patient reconsiders her end-of-life wishes, as Covid-19 brings mortality into sharper focus
Even before she knew what kind of cancer she had, Robin Hodges knew she didn’t want to be resuscitated. If her heart and lungs began sputtering out, doctors should let them. Back in 1999, she’d watched her older sister die agitated and muttering, trying to pull herself out of a tube-tangled hospital bed. Hodges didn’t want that for herself. That wasn’t how she wanted to be remembered, and it wasn’t how she wanted to remember Chelee.
She wanted to remember Chelee as a teenager, when her room seemed like a magical realm, with its lava lamp and posters and Lynyrd Skynyrd records, a fortress of wisdom and taste. “When she turned 16 and I was 12, I remember thinking, ‘When I turn 16, I will know as much, if not more than Chelee,’” Hodges said. “‘I will be an adult. I will know the answers to everything.’”
