No matter where we are in life, we are seldom prepared for death. Over the course of writing this book, I did not ever meet with anyone who, before their diagnosis, had ever seriously contemplated the idea of dying. Thirtysix-year-old Louise had not ever imagined herself having cancer. She told me how, when she was a medical undergraduate, a lecturer informed her class that demographically it was probable that in y number of years, x number of them would be dead. She explained to me:

Confrontation with potentially fatal diseases focuses the mind; it provides an opportunity for values to be reassessed. Priorities are examined and many re-evaluate their commitments and relationships.

The people I met whilst conducting my research were very much individuals. They differed in their reactions to, for example, finding their first symptoms; they responded differently when learning their diagnosis; how they chose to spend the time leading up to their deaths was different too.