Inside the Human Body - First to Last ›
‘I would like to be remembered as a good father and as a husband and as far as the grandchildren are concerned, a good grandfather. Hopefully they’ll overlook my shortcomings’ - Gerald 84, who’s last breaths are documented in this episode.
I just spent the final 10 minutes of this program sobbing as I watched the death of this man; seeing his humility and dignity in the knowledge of his failing body; the ‘blind trust’ that he ‘will not disappear completely’; praising his wife, Mary, for never knowing a partnership where ‘the love was deeper and more lasting and more secure’.
It made me think back to my own Nana’s death, holding her hand as she slipped out of consciousness, her breathing becoming irregular until finally, in the company of 3 generations of her family, she breathed her last. Time stood still, there were no other worries, or thoughts or occupations or distractions.
In the midst of everything in life, when all is stripped and bare, what does it really come down to?
Relationships and love.
‘And this is the true miracle of your every day existence, from your first breath to your last, you become so much more than the sum of your parts, you become someone with hopes and dreams likes and loves. Able to touch the lives of others’ - Michael Mosley, presenter of ‘Inside the Human Body’
