Koert

Your loving comments and emails with sympathies brought tears to my eyes. Thank you all so very much for your warmth and kindness. I definitely felt less alone in my grief these last couple of weeks.

My youngest brother died on Monday May 25 after a battle with Crohn's disease and cancer. He surprised us all these last months with his perseverance and resilience and his doctors called him a miracle. But in the end life became too much of a struggle and his body became too weak and he requested euthanasia which is legal in The Netherlands in certain circumstances. The doctors approved and my brother choose the date and time he wanted to die. For all the people who couldn't be with him it was nice to know the time of his passing so we could all be with him if not physically then at least in spirit. I called my brother one last time on the Sunday before his death. They had just given him his morphine and he had enough energy to talk. We spoke for half an hour and that was very nice. He died on Monday afternoon very quietly and peacefully. The last couple of weeks have been difficult but I know it will get better with time. I haven't done any stitching or sewing since he died but I hope I can show you something in my next post.