Grieving for myself: the silence and spirituality of personal loss

This chapter began 25 years ago in the intensive care unit of a small general hospital in the North West of England. I was 23, recovering from an emergency hysterectomy as a complication of childbirth, and I was in shock. I was also learning, although I did not realise it at the time, how to listen to the pain, loss and grief of others. Illness presents a uniquely intimate experience of loss, and facing death through illness is a uniquely intimate experience of grief. This chapter considers those for whom a diagnosis of significant or life-threatening illness has provoked a sharp realisation of their mortality and who, thereafter, live with an acutely conscious awareness of their dying.