Credits: Social Media
Terminal cancer patient wrote a guide to dying and it puts life into perspective
A terminally ill aid worker shared his feelings before sadly passing away from throat cancer, and it put life into perspective.
Simon Boas, who wrote about his terminal illness, spoke about how ‘enjoying life to the full’ in his career as an aid worker, prepared him to come to terms with his own death. It helped make the most of his last moments doing things he enjoys and spending time with people he loves, despite his health taking a turn for the worst.
Terminally ill Simon Boas was feeling happy before his death
Simon was the executive director of Jersey Overseas Aid, who was diagnosed with throat cancer in September 2023. At age 46, Boas was told the disease was terminal, so he spent the following year knitting together his reflections on life into a book – A Beginner’s Guide to Dying.
Boas turned age 47 on July 6, 2024 and a statement from JOA’s chairman Carolyn Labey announced he died peacefully in Jersey surrounded by his family, on Monday, July 15.
A Beginner’s Guide to Dying is set to hit the shelves in October as a posthumous publication.
In one of his final interviews, Simon spoke on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme about his reflections on life and death as he moved into hospice care.
Despite being terminally ill, the inspirational aid worker revealed: “My pain is under control and I’m terribly happy – it sounds weird to say, but I’m as happy as I’ve ever been in my life.”
Simon explained: “I used to think I’d rather be hit by the proverbial bus, but having a couple of months knowing this is coming has really helped me both do the boring ‘death-min’, but also get my thoughts and prepare myself, and feel so accepting of what’s to come.”
Boas described his upcoming death as a “great bonus” and explained that in his book he tries to convey how “enjoying life to the full kind of prepares you for this.”
Clinical psychologist Mattias Tranberg wrote in The Conversation about how it is not uncommon for a person to be happy as the end of their life draws near, since quite a lot of research suggests that fear of death is at the unconscious center of being human.�
A study in Psychological Science shows that people nearing death use more positive language to describe their experience than those who only imagine death.
47-year-old said ‘enjoying life to the full’ prepared him
Simon spent his life as an aid worker and has lived in places where death is something imminently possible; running a UN office in the Gaza Strip, spending time in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, working in Ukraine, and his time as a Samaritan “helped” open his eyes to people who are forced to live with death as such a big part of life.
The 47-year-old advised listeners that realizing that death is inevitable and is a part of life, “throws life into perspective and helps you to enjoy it more and prioritize the important things.”
While Simon’s family prepared to go through the most difficult thing in their lives, he hoped that his “cheerfulness in the leaving of life might perhaps help them in the next few years…”
Simon continued to emphasize that everyone makes a huge difference in life. After death, our actions will mostly be unremembered – but the kind acts you carried out during your life could still be rippling forward: “I want everyone to realize how special and precious they are.”
During the Radio discussion, the inspirational aid worker explained his final days will involve indulging in things he enjoys and spending time with his family. So while he was not looking forward to his final day as such, he admitted: “I’m kind of curious about it, and I’m happy and I’m ready.”
