Choosing Thomas.
"You turned my world upside down, you did." – T.K. Laux, father of Thomas
Over a year ago, I was doing some work in Washington, D.C., and checked my email one night to find a message from someone named Lee Hancock.
"Damn girl, you write good," she wrote. Those five words remain one of my favorite "reviews" and sparked a correspondence with Lee that lasts even now. She is a longtime writer for the Dallas Morning News and at the time she first wrote me, Lee was deeply engaged in an amazing in-depth series for the paper about the end of life, the research for which had brought her to 37days and Life is a Verb in the first place. Lee and photographer Sonya Hebert gained unprecedented access to Baylor University Medical Center's palliative-care team, spending months attending team meetings, observing patient visits and interviewing clinicians, patients and families. In late May and early June of last year, they shadowed the team around the clock for three weeks, resulting in a remarkable series of articles and videos.
Too often, we shy away from death, robbing ourselves of its beauty and meaning and the sheer, true light it can shine on life itself. Not Lee Hancock. She walks straight toward it, bringing us the stories of death in a way that can illuminate our living.
Now, she has just completed another powerful story, this one about the birth–and death–of a child named Thomas. It is a two-part narrative and video project on the hardest kind of end-of-life care, that helping families deal with infant loss. Part One is up on the Dallas Morning News site today; Part Two will appear next Sunday.
It is not easy watching, nor easy reading, but an important telling about love, and life, and death, in the spirit of 37days. I urge you to watch and read and in such a quiet way honor and remember sweet beautiful Thomas. (You may need to complete a very short registration to read the story)
What does it mean to love? To embrace? And to let go?
I urge you to watch the video, to read the story.
