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When Breath Becomes Air
Paul Kalanithi
Being Mortal. Medicine and What Matters in the End
Atul Gawande
Talking About Death Won't Kill You
Dr. Kathy Kortes-Miller
Tuesdays with Morrie
Mitch Albom
A Beginner's Guide to the End
BJ Miller, MD, and Soshana Berger
Motivational Media
Forgiving the Man who Forgot
Irene Walker
The Best Videos/Movies About Living Life And
Facing Death
The Bucket List
The Bucket List focuses on two strangers, both with terminal illnesses, who aim to enjoy the last
moments of life they have by doing things they wish they had done earlier on. As they grow closer, the passing of one of them is explored as the viewer gets a glimpse into how this loss impacts everyon around him. This bittersweet movie explores a beautiful and random friendship that blossoms in a hospital room and ends up forever changing their lives.
Dallas Buyers Club
Dallas Buyers Club won 85 awards, including an Oscar and Golden Globe. This movie shares the tale of Ron, an HIV positive electrician and a cowboy who tries to overcome his diagnosis by seeking out medication that hasn't been FDA approved yet. Although the medication prolongs his life, he ends up passing away towards the end of the film.
UP
Up explores two types of death, a miscarriage and the loss of a partner. This heartwarming film follows Carl, the surviving spouse, as well as a young child named Russel, on a journey to tie up loose ends and make Ellie (Carls wife) dreams a reality. This film encourages the notion of remembering the special times shared with a deceased loved one.
The Fault in Our Stars examines how a terminal cancer diagnosis impacts a family. Hazel, a 16-year-old, is diagnosed with terminal cancer and begins going to a support group where she falls in love with Gus, another individual who is diagnosed with cancer. Through their mutual love of literature, they embark on a journey to better understand themselves and the world. While Hazel begins falling in love, her mother and father are in the process of trying to cope with their child's diagnosis. This film is beautifully done and captures the complexity of what it's like to have a child with a terminal diagnosis.
The Fault in Our Stars
August: Osage County
A look at the lives of the strong-willed women of the Weston family, whose paths have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Oklahoma house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them. Violet Weston (Meryl Streep) has cancer and a propensity for pills and alcohol. She's a difficult woman to deal with and her husband has finally had enough. A family tragedy causes tensions to run high and secrets to come out. The Weston women will be forced to examine themselves and their lives whether they want to or not. Welcome to Osage County, Oklahoma in the sweltering heat of August.
Life is going well for Bob Jones (Michael Keaton): great job, beautiful loving wife and a baby on the way. Then he finds out that he has kidney cancer that will leave him dead within months. He sets out to videotape his life acquired wisdom for his child, and ends up on a voyage of self-discovery and reconciliation.
My Life
Patch Adams
Patch Adams (Robin Williams) is determined to become a medical doctor because he enjoys helping people. Unfortunately, the medical and scientific community does not appreciate his methods of healing the sick, while the actual patients, medical professors, and hospital nurses all appreciate the work *he* can do, because they are unable to do it.
The Big Chill
A seminal Thirty-Something movie in which a group of old college friends who are now older and
experienced come together for the funeral of Alex, who was at one time the brightest and the best of them at college and yet who never managed to find his way. The friends use the occasion to reacquaint themselves with each other, discuss where their lives have led and speculate on what happened to their idealism which had been abundant when they were younger.
Still Alice
Alice Howland is a renowned linguistics professor happily married with three grown children. All that begins to change when she strangely starts to forget words and then more. When her doctor diagnoses her with Early-onset Alzheimer Disease, Alice and her family lives face a harrowing challenge as this terminal degenerative neurological ailment slowly progresses to an inevitable conclusion they all dread. Along the way, Alice struggles to not only to fight the inner decay, but to make the most of her remaining time to find the love and peace to make simply living worthwhile.
Seven Pounds
Haunted by a secret, Ben Thomas looks for redemption by radically transforming the lives of seven
people he doesn't know. Once his plan is set, nothing will be able to stop him. At least that what he thinks. But Ben hadn't planned on falling in love with one of these people and she the one who will end up transforming him.
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