[Closed] If you thought you had 6 months to live, what would you do?

Probably contract a lot of STIs.

Leave work now and travel

write out a list of fun things to do, and do them all + go and see all the people i care about and say thank you for what they've given me and say my goodbyes

Easy. I would have fun for 5 months, doing everything and anything I wanted to do. The last month however, I would go on a killing spree, taking out all my enemies, and all those people I can't stand before I go.

My mates dad was told he had 3 months tops. He went from a massive rugby player, six foot tall and six foot wide to a shadow of a human. I actually didn't recognise him at first when i went to visit him in hospital.
He spent that time making videos. One was for his wife and kids and the other was for the funeral. The day of his funeral there was a video screen set up. We all sat and watched him talking about his life, tales from years of rugby playing and mixed in were some of his favourite jokes. All of it was virtually un broadcast-able full of swearing and tales of what went on on tour.
Following the actual burial he had arranged for a roc n roll band to play at his local, organised the food and had put five grand behind the bar. That party didn't stop for four days.
People still talk of that week now even though it was ten years ago.

I'd get a 2nd opinion.

Well I'd probably have another doughnut for a start.

My Dad had three months and all he wanted to do was spend as much time as possible with the people he loved .

Seek out Lucy Liu and woo her. Woo her so well that she cries at my funeral 8)

I used to work with a guy who's consultant told him he needed to get his affairs in order as things looked pretty bleak. The first thing he did was to marry his girlfriend. That was over 20 years ago now and I heard from a friend who's still in touch with him that he married for the 4th time last month. I guess he used up all his luck back then

Take up wingsuit base jumping. And what Cougar said. 🙂

Prepare my love ones for my inevitability - like saying goodbye to them.

Give everything away to my love ones etc. I should only be left with some clean clothing - nothing else.

Then empty my mind from worldly desire. i.e no more attachment.

On the death bed I shall not think about this world and all the attachments I have in this life.

Constantly keeping my mind blank and empty by letting go of everything.

Finally, just as I am passing I call out ... Freeedoommm! (with a big grin on my face - which in itself is an attachment so might not do that)

Then I judge you in the afterlife ... 😈

edit: the best way to die is in your sleep peacefully ... but do empty your mind prior to that if you know you are dying.

I don't think you can truly know until you are really faced with it..
My other half had a terminal diagnosis and it changed her outlook in ways she had never imagined.. Spending time with her loved ones was top of the list.. Learning acceptance was a close second

There are a huge number of variables that could effect your options and choices..

Thankfully she is still with us 10 years later

IMO the more you attach to this world the harder it is to die and the more suffering you will have.

Most people have difficulties dying because they still have attachment to this life i.e. unfinished business or simply too much worry, which will not do good for your afterlife.

Ya, I know the scientific mind would simply say you turn to carbon whatever ... Alternatively, you do not want to leave your "energy" wondering the living world.

Everyone will die one day but it is the way you die that matters.

Yeah, there was a shedload of meditation and Buddhist philosophy involved in the process of her learning acceptance..

yunki - Member
Yeah, there was a shedload of meditation and Buddhist philosophy involved in the process of her learning acceptance..

Ya, letting go might sound easy but it is Not as it is the hardest practice of all to deal with.

edit: what scare the shite out of me was the panic attack I had that happened to me many years ago resulted in some sort of suffocation. I thought I was going to die and it was not easy. Once I gave up on the fear of dying I recovered. Before that, damn I thought to myself, as I felt fear creeping up on me ... Then I investigated the reasons of my fear of dying and I found out that I still have some unfinished business in this living world. Dammit!

I don't think you can truly know until you are really faced with it..

This.

Wow, chekw in "sensible post" shocker!

cynic-al - Member

Wow, chekw in "sensible post" shocker!

😆 I think I need to charge fan club membership fees as my fans are building up ...

Can't be sure, less work for certain.

Sarah from accounts.

We've got this far in with no one mentioning coke and hookers?

I'd just pack the car up and take Mrs Matt and minimatt away through Europe just to see where we ended up.

1. Commit the fraud I stumbled upon many years ago that would probably net close to a million (and it would take more than 6 months to notice)

2. Do lots of good things for people with the money and helping as many as I could, be it getting directly getting people off the street, fronting motgage deposits for people on min wage or nuking Wonga's head office.

3. Convince Kelly Brook to go for a drink.

Die happy 🙂

I lost my step sister this year to cancer. Less than 6 months from diagnosis to death, likely that if he's got 6 months to live he'll be lucky if he gets an evening home for tea with family. So I guess if I knew what was coming up I'd have one last family tea, ride, dog walk & top myself - savings in the bank for someone's holiday.

Something similar to that.... ^^

Or just mope around and cry.

[i]Sarah from accounts.[/i]

what's stopping you?

The restraining order!

Unfortunately, it tends not to be 6 months of good health them boom dead. But if I only had 6 months of good quality life left I would spend it making sure that my kids were going to be OK once I was gone.

I'd probably have a go at all the gnarly, technical stuff I'm normally too scared to attempt.

I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my Granddad did....

Not screaming in fear like the passengers in his car

My dad was pretty much in exactly this situation, and he spent 30 grand on a campervan and drove around the British coastline following the closest roads to the sea possible, starting in Essex. Sadly he only got to Wales (via the south coast) before he was hospital bound, but it was a nice final few months for a man who loved the sea and coast.

Pee through the letterboxes of 10 and 11 Downing Street.

Oh and spend six months with my missus.

I grandma died in the arms of my mum and aunts shouting "... it hurts please do not drag me" with her arms trying to shake off something ... She was shouting to someone in front of her. I think She was dragged off by death by force. She was never delusional until the last moment of her death.

Cry a lot!

Definitely wingsuit, because what's the worst that could happen.

I always read this stuff and think its such a shame that these things temporarily make us stop and think what's important. And its those things like our family and friends that are truly special and often short lived in the grand scheme of things. Then we forget and carry on. Life can be thoroughly ****. Live, love, and laugh. Bollocks to misery, its a wasted energy!

Yup.

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/the-coke-and-hookers-answer-to-everything

Definitely wingsuit, because what's the worst that could happen.

Whist respectful of some of the posts on here, I lolled at that 🙂

Lost Mrs C but 4 weeks ago, in the last 6 months of her life she could barely do anything, she spent most days asleep in a morphine haze.
If you can do anything in the last 6 months it would be get your house in order, she did, still bloody hurts though.

🙁

Bloody hell, that's awful. So sorry fella.

Candodavid, sorry to hear that.

Really sorry to read that Candoavid. 🙁

A friend (well, more better half's friend) died two years ago of a very rare and particularly nasty cancer.

He met football players and got a full sleeve tattoo, but ultimately made preparations and spent all his time with his wife and kids.

My aunt died in late January this year out of a sudden but before she passed away she met up with most of the family members. She wanted to visit us but did not make it.

I would spend 6 months ensuring/preparing that Mrs MRs disability and struggle for physical independence was cared/provided for both before and after my passing. And that we had the best time ever. Since all this happened we have been recently living every day to the fullest of our means, and some. Every day is important, whether we know our time or not.

Edit: And arrange for all my bikes to go where useful.

I'd commission a Y-shaped coffin ready for the end after all the shagging.

I'd go on holiday by the seaside for a long time with MrAdamW and my wonderful mutt.

I'd most probably seek out some other buddhisty-types and meditate to prepare for the end calmly.

Oh, and I'd borrow a MAHOOSIVE amount of money. Coke and rent-boys I guess 😀

a Y-shaped coffin ready for the end after all the shagging

Erm...what kind of sexis it you'd be having?

Sod it, I've changed my mind. I'd see just how much cocaine it would take to have a drug fueled sex heart attack.

Put my affairs in order, spend time with the family, buy a wingsuit. In fact, I shall have to put this sage advice to my sister and see what she thinks 🙂 . To be honest as already said, depending on the disease, the last six months may be one long debilitating, muscle-wasting, migraine and nausea fest. So definitely the wingsuit and maybe an interesting rock formation.

Candoavid I'm sorry for your loss.

Erm...what kind of sexis it you'd be having?

Wrong question! What kind of sexis *won't* I be having!? 😛

Get the 'how many days to' app.

Get the 'how many days to' app.

Cry, spend time with family and real! friends.
Get house\finances in order.
Do everything you can to beat the odds! And try despite treatment and setbacks to do be normal. If at all possible get a holiday or at least a few nice days away here and there when you can.

I would fight the prognosis. Nothing is inevitable.

Sod it, I've changed my mind. I'd see just how much cocaine it would take to have a drug fueled sex heart attack.

This. Gotta go out rock and roll. Pissing yourself in a hospital bed whilst slowly rotting away from cancer is totally overrated.

Anyone who chooses chemo for all but the pretty survivable cancers is on a high road to nothing, would rather sit on a beach, surrounded by half naked women and OD on heroin.

Cry, spend time with family and real! friends.

Why, it's the real/old friends who start acting weird when you're about to kick the bucket. Total strangers all the way.

Do everything you can to beat the odds! And try despite treatment and setbacks to do be normal.

Why would you sit in a ward pissing/shitting yourself half to death off your face on chemo drugs, to maybe survive another year but pretty much....statistically speaking... be ****ed in the long run.

You're never going to be immortal, the only thing that may be immortal is the memory of how you died. Make it as legendary as possible, have fun, wave your dick at god and tell him to do one.

What do you think Keith? Have we got this all wrong? Tom clearly knows his onions...

[pokerface]

Tell that to my other half Tom..
She got a terminal diagnosis 10 years ago after her second brush with Hodgkins Disease..

She ran a half marathon soon after

Either what Bullheart said - even the experts don't know everything, so set out to prove them wrong. Or the more sensible answer; get your affairs in order (not the Sarah from accounts type affairs, though), and then spend the time doing things you want to do with people who you care about.

Also - what Rumbledethumps said. Why should it take a 6 month warning to make us change. OK, there's certain things that we have to do, like work, so we can live, but if you feel every day's a grind and wouldn't spend your last 6 months doing it, why do we blindly spend the next 30 years doing it instead.

Who's got Sarah's number?

2nd diagnosis for sure. A friend was diagnosed with liver cancer given months to live. This was in Sheffield other day he was moving to London to be close to family so he was referred to a hospital there. They "took one look", operated to remove half his liver and he's still going 10 years later.

This

"fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run"

Until it wasn't possible.

Well Bullheart sounds like Toms got all the answers, we'd best give it all up now, apparently its not worth spending time with our loved ones or kids.

By the sounds of it I should get all the morphine and meds in the house and end it all now before the wife gets back from work with our son.

Or not!

We need to meet up again soon for a cuppa. Before we're dead.

The '6 months to live' prognosis is made up basically from Dr's opinion based on what they've seen with other patients in the same condition.

People sometimes think you'll live completely normally for 5 months and 3 weeks, before suddenly getting ill and dying.

My younger brother died in 2013 from cancer, he fought it for 6 years, but in the end it spread and ultimately got him. He was 36.
I remember sitting with the Dr at his bedside in the September, where he was told they had run out of options and he probably had 3 months, but less than 6 months.
He died 4 weeks later, his liver failed due to being full of tumours.

He spent the time seeing as many friends/family as he could manage (he was unable to leave hospital) and helping his Mrs sort out as much paperwork etc as he could.

So having lived through someone else going through this process I'd say the little things are the biggest - My Bro loved the time we took him out for some fresh air (hospital garden) and feeling rain on his skin - he said at the time he thought he'd never feel it again.

The practical.
Sort stuff out so that my loved ones had very little to do when the day came.
Sell a pile of stuff that will be tricky to deal with when I go.
Make sure my will is clear, my wishes post departure are clear and that there is enough money for an almighty booze up on my behalf.

The fun.
Go back to New Zealand the do the Nevis Bungy again.
Ride down (and up if i'm able) Alpe D'Huez again.
Go and see as much of the world as I can with my wife in tow.
Spent time with mates talking rubbish.
Eat the finest food and drink the finest wine I can get my grubby claws on.
Polish off the bottle of vintage Port I've been saving for a "special occasion".

The serious.
Fight with every breath whatever it is that's killing me, try to defeat it.
Smile, if my departure is imminent I may as well enjoy myself hadn't I?

[i] Take up wingsuit base jumping. And what Cougar said[/i]

Wingsuit and catching STi, Simultaneously!

If it really was the end with no chances then I would have to try smack, crack and crystal meth, just to see what all the fuss is about.

Some of the more fanciful responses make me wonder if (to twist the usual adage) death is wasted on the dying. All the people I've known with a terminal diagnosis have been rather preoccupied with being the sickest they have been in their lives to be wingsuiting or robbing banks.

Condolences to Candoavid above and big respect to a couple of rather ill people above showing remarkable resilience.

Honestly? My life is passable at best. No real problems but since splitting with Tigger not a lot going on. Biking is the big thing. I'd have a good ride, a night with pub mates ( not real mates) send a group email at 3am to real mates and finish myself.

I'd recycle some old Bob Monkhouse jokes...

I'll add to the silly responses:

I'd find a gigantic cliff-like mountainside somewhere, build a huge ramp at the top and jump my bike off it wearing a two parachutes, a drogue and a full chute. I'd soar for ages, do the biggest cross-up followed by multiple backflips and supermen and whatever else I could think of on the way down, all filmed from a helicopter. Then I'd pull the drogue and slow down enough to try and land it, unless it looked like there was no landing then I'd pull the full chute.

Far too dangerous to try in any other situation.

Sorry but I have to rise to the troll that is Tom. It's rare even on here that someone is so insensitive and rediculously pompous that it makes me angry.
Bullheart and Keith are living examples of spirit and good souls who don't rise to door handles like you. Gents I salute you and hope you're doing ok.
I think I wish I'd had toms foresight and then wouldn't have been able to read his comment and respond as I doubt they have wifi in the afterlife.
Oh and to answer the op, I did a reasonable amount of crying, lots of hugging and being with loved ones. Five years ago....

If I had 6 months left......I would work my tits off....just so my family can live a bit more secure for when I'm gone