Writing in today's The Irish Times, Mick Heaney remembers his father Seamus's last days. The poet discovered the seriousness of his condition a mere two days before his death. “Dad soberly admitted that the diagnosis was “quite serious”, he recalls.
He had visited his father in St Vincent's Hospital, shortly before he was transferred to Blackrock Clinic to be treated for a a “split aorta." However, the poet died before the procedure to remedy his condition was scheduled to be be performed. He passed away on August 30, 2013, aged 74.
"When it became clear that he’d have to undergo a risky operation I still danced around using the word “death” when talking to him, much less muse on the possibility that he might not survive, " writes the poet's son.
"On my last evening with him, just before he was transferred to Blackrock Clinic, I spoke to him about pretty much anything except what was about to happen, making lame jokes to distract from the almost unreal air that prevailed. I hugged him as I left – not our usual farewell – but tried not to think about the possible finality of the gesture."
Mick Heaney's article is an edited version of the Mary Holland Commemorative Lecture, given at the Forum for End of Life in Ireland, thinkahead.ie
