Hospice Heroes: David White

Hospice & Palliative Care would like to introduce you to a few of the special people we had the privilege to serve in the past year. Our compassionate end-of-life care was taken into their homes from Afton to Earlville and several towns in between. These patients are young and old; some are still with us, others have passed away; some have cancer, others do not. However, the one thing they have in common is that their lives, and the lives of those who love them, were made easier when they welcomed Hospice into their family.

Our Annual “Friends of Hospice” Campaign is the one time in the year that we ask for financial help from those of you who wish to support our mission, and want to help fill the gap between insurance reimbursement and the actual cost of patient care. Without these dollars, we would not be able to provide the wide variety of services that we do. If you would like to donate to this campaign you can call our office at 334-3556 and charge your gift or send a check to Friends of Hospice, 21 Hayes Street, Norwich 13815.

Each week we will share a short story of one of the five patients who wished to share their hospice journey with the public. While they took very different paths in life, their humanity and the right to die a comfortable and dignified death intertwines their biographies. We’re certain that your hearts will be softened by each of them, as were all of ours.

David White is a 54-year-old hospice patient with a twinkle in his eye and a sly grin on his face. He has multiple sclerosis that was diagnosed years after he broke his back. Initially paralyzed, and told he might never walk again, David defied the odds and returned to work at Procter & Gamble, completing 30 years before retiring on disability in 2001. By then he was diagnosed with MS and suffered from severe pain in his legs. Chronic infections often landed him in the hospital and eventually a nursing home where his life took a turn for the better. That’s where he met one of the housekeepers named Cindy. David insists that Cindy was God sent. At one of his lowest points, living alone and in constant pain, with nothing but trouble to look forward to, he cried out to his maker, “God, I can’t live like this anymore, you have to find me a wife. Someone to care about me.”