12/02/2025
“I watched my mother die slowly, in a way that she hated. I will not put my children through the same experience.”
Before her diagnosis, Holly’s life was wonderfully busy, teaching Mythology, walking her dogs, kayaking on Dutchman’s Creek, knitting in the evenings, and gathering her family around the dinner table every night.
Then came February 8, 2024: stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
Holly is fighting with everything she has, because she wants to live. She wants to see her daughters grow up, to share the milestones and the everyday moments that make a family. But she also knows how the end can look—she lived it with her mom. Two agonizing weeks in hospice. No joy. No peace. No dignity.
What she wants at the end of her life is simple:
To say goodbye while she still can.
To be remembered as herself—happy, present, proud.
To die at home in North Carolina, with her dogs on the bed and her husband holding her hand.
But in her state, medical aid in dying isn’t an option. No one should have to uproot their children, leave their community, or endure unbearable suffering just to have a peaceful death.
If you believe families deserve compassion, autonomy, and peace at the end of life, read Holly’s story here: https://tinyurl.com/bnnkz6m7
