I saw my first dead body when I was about 9 or 10. A man had taken his life jumping in front of a train. I was on the platform when it happened – I can still see the body lying on the line. The second death was when I worked on a children’s ward as a nursery nurse and I was curious to see this child who had been so restless – she now looked so peaceful. The most meaningful death was 20 years ago this year – when my father died. He was old and ready to die. My sister died at the age of 58 of cancer, leaving 2 daughters and a husband. There are now 4 grandchildren who will never know her. Then my mother who died 9 years ago and I still haven’t cried that she has gone.
