Winner of the 2021 Independent Press Award
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Loving Choices, Peaceful Passing Why My Family Chose HospiceThere is no guidebook for when, and how, to stop treatment of a terminal illness. This deeply reflective narrative about choices in living and dying gives an intimate account of how the myriad end-of-life decisions affect a family. Bob Vallee had the courage to accept his impending death and lived out his final days at home in his daughter’s care. He passed peacefully, in his sleep, twenty-nine days after entering hospice.
Peace is a place that lies between what is lost and what still remains. Kathleen Vallee Stein presents a lens-shifting view of role reversal as she takes on more, and sometimes unexpected, responsibility for her parents. Her service to her father was a gift of love and gave him the dignity we all deserve in the last days of our lives. A truly skilled writer, Stein’s attention to detail sensitively recaptures events, without falling prey to nostalgia. Read this book to consider choices you may make for yourself or the ones you love. |
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“Walk in Kathleen Vallee Stein’s shoes as she candidly leads us through her family’s emotional journey, beginning with her father’s decision to stop radiation treatments and ending with his peaceful passing. This is a must-read for anyone contemplating hospice; learn the family commitment it requires, and the rich experience gained when loved ones say what’s on their hearts and discover what matters most at the end of life. This book is a rare gift.”
- Althea Halchuck, EJD, BCPA, CT, Ending Well! Patient Advocacy
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"Kathleen Vallee Stein tells the story of her family’s experience with hospice and the choices that must be made to give her father a dignified and peaceful death. Loving Choices, Peaceful Passing: Why My Family Chose Hospice is a case-study in hospice care and how it can provide the medical, emotional and social support families need to navigate the end of a life. As an RN, I highly recommend this book to anyone working with patients and families who interact with hospice care. It helped me understand the challenges families face and the peace they can experience in giving their loved ones a 'good death.'"
- Ben Rooney, RN, NYU Langone Health, New York
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This is me with my dear friend Edie Taylor at my book launch in April 2019. She told me after she read the book that she "felt like part of the family so very much."
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“Loving Choices, Peaceful Passing: Why My Family Chose Hospice is an often touching, no-frills account of an imperfect family’s reluctant but courageous acceptance of a call to action in the final chapter of life. Stein’s father’s physician, Dr. Archer, quietly, but firmly told him that his condition was terminal. Choosing hospice care allowed Stein’s father to die at home with dignity. We often kick life’s painful topics down the road until they knock at our door. Loving Choices is no beach read, but it is worth having as a reference for when that knock comes that you don’t want to answer, but you must.”
- Scott Carter, producer, playwright, and host of Ye Gods! podcast
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