Christmas: The Last Wish
Published on
By Dani Castro
At the beginning of December, Kassia got some tickets to see the Raptors in a VIP suite at Scotiabank Arena. Kassia went with her whole family and she invited myself and my family to share this moment with her. She was already debilitated but she wanted to live! She could barely walk… depended on the wheel chair, but she was determined to go, and she joked: “I am going to this game even if it’s on a stretcher!”
Her goal, on this day, was to see people happy. She spent the entire time lying down on a couch in the suite… and sometimes she asked: “Are you happy? Are you having fun?” Kassia was happy for providing this different and special moment to all of us. This is what I call kindness and solidarity! She had no strength… but she overcame her physical limits for the satisfaction of seeing our happiness. She was highly evolved!
On the day following the game, Kassia was admitted to the hospital, and from that point forward, her health only declined. There was nothing more the doctors could do about the cancer so they started the palliative care to keep her comfortable.
And she didn’t stop amazing us. The hospital visits were always delightful. She talked, laughed, asked us to bring over her favorite foods… and she drew a lot! She made portraits of each of her daughters and her nephews also.
The fact that Kassia faced cancer positively gave her enough time to prepare her daughters for a future without her… I imagine they weren’t easy conversations, but I believe they were very beneficial for their acceptance and growing up.
Her wish was to be at home when the end came. She was then transferred back home, keeping some of the hospital palliative care. But the best care she received from her family. Fátima and Ana gave themselves with all the love of a mother and a sister, in the form of mother and sister in law.
Kassia’s wish was to make it til Christmas. Stuck to a bed, she planned and organized a Christmas with the “house full”, like she loved.
And her last wish was granted. The memories of 2019 Christmas are forever in the hearts of those that were beside her. I visited Kassia on December 26th. I asked her how Christmas went… and she told me: “It was a happy night, exactly like I wanted.”