Within each one of us lays the desire for independence and the need to feel like we're in control of our circumstances.  With the advent of a life-limiting illness our independence slowly erodes, our sense of being in control is wrested from us bit by bit.

Our patient is an independent sort of person and enjoyed a very active life, frequently walking to the beach from her home in a lake side community.  As her illness progressed, these walks became all the more important to her.  Eventually the day arrived when unassisted walking became impossible and she began to use a walker.  This, naturally, inhibited her ability to walk to the lake and soon she was unable to travel as little as one block due to shortness of breath and weakness.  That's when our staff's creative thinking came to the rescue.  Working with our Life is Precious program the patient's social worker located a business that rented golf carts.  We were able to rent a two seat golf cart for her use and her independence was restored.  She was delighted to be able to travel around her neighborhood and the cart rental business was equally pleased to be a part of making this possible for our patient.

A friend of the patient drove over to visit her one day and shares this story.  This friend said, "Imagine my surprise as I turned into her gated community only to see her coming flying around a corner on the golf cart smiling from ear to ear and laughing like a child.  I haven't seen her have this much fun in a long time.  Thank you for making this happen for her."

"You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, and find your eternity in each moment."
~ Henry David Thoreau