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“Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel)”
Billy Joel’s touching melody offers us reassurance that death is not the endIf you are one of the many people who have tried to explain death to a child, you can understand the difficulty one faces in finding just the right words. I remember sitting on my bed as a toddler after my father died, watching my mom struggle to answer my question, “Why hasn’t daddy come…
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Nonprofit Provides Funerals for Infants Who Died
Garden of Innocence provides funeral urns, shrouds, burials, and love for unclaimed childrenIt’s an idea that is almost incomprehensible to most of us: the bodies of infants who died, left abandoned in hospitals and county morgues. And it’s a testament to our combined sensibilities that it is the kind of thing that we rarely encounter in our lives. But as Elissa Davey of Carlsbad, California, knows it…
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Join Us at the End of Life Resource Fair
Sponsored by the San Francisco Jewish Community CenterThe San Francisco Jewish Community Center is featuring its second annual resource fair dedicated to death and dying, Embracing the Journey: End of Life Resource Fair. The event will be held on Sunday, November 13th from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., so mark your calendars! The fair will feature a wide range of speakers and resources to help…
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Germs Help in the Fight Against Cancer
Study shows that certain gut bacteria enhance the action of chemotherapy drugsSince about the mid-19th century, people have been understandably afraid of germs. Prior to that time, no one knew why millions of people became mysteriously ill with symptoms such as fevers, rashes and coughs. Nor did they understand why so many of them died. Then along came Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch. Working separately, they came…
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Monday Hearts for Madalene
Page Hodel creates beautiful hearts as a tribute to enduring loveIt’s an honor for SevenPonds to share with our readers the story of the Monday Hearts for Madalene project, a true account of the power of love in the midst of death.The project’s origins take us to 2005: the moment Page Hodel encountered Madalene Rodriguez and fell “instantly, dizzyingly in love with her.” The couple’s first meeting was electric,…
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Urban Death Project Composts Human Remains
Katrina Spade proposes human compost structure as place of memorial and “recomposition”Architect Katrina Spade may be the first person to offer an alternative to burial or cremation of human remains: composting. It has been true since time immemorial that our bodies come from and return to the earth. We are what we eat, drink and breathe. With the Urban Death Project, Spade has designed a system…
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Our Weekly Tip: Make a Last Letter to Your Loved Ones
Write your letter as you plan the rest of your willOur Tip of the Week: Writing a will can feel impersonal and even mechanical. After you’ve assigned beneficiaries to your estate and given your doctor end-of-life instructions, you can still feel as though you have more to say. The loose ends of your emotional life might be left unresolved, which can cause stress at the end of…
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One in Four Cancer Deaths Are Linked to Smoking
American Cancer Society links smoking to over 165,000 deaths in 2014A new study from the American Cancer Society has confirmed what public health officials have known for a long time — smoking kills. Published in the Oct. 23, 2016 issue of JAMA, the study found that 29 percent of U.S. cancer deaths — 167,000 in 2014 — were directly linked to smoking. Smoking-related deaths in…
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“7 Ways to Create an Amazing Celebration of Life”
