Bruno's Story - MND | Palliative Care | Dignity Therapy

I had said to my wife If there are things that I can do to keep myself alive longer I think I'd like to do that that's the inspiration that I had gotten from this therapy Motor Neurone Disease is what I have and they call the type I have got "flail arm" so I can't move either arm and it's possibly just started in my left feet yeah but it's a disease that wastes the muscle away In 2015, one my trainers had said to me my left arm was appearing to be a little bit thinner and that I was starting to have a bit of a hole in my left-hand shoulder blade and on those comments I went to the local doctors who sent me then to the neurologist and then on one consulation he was able to ascertain what I had I think I may have had again selective hearing and he had said to me "Buddy, if I was you" "I'd be working on my bucket list" yep I was just left stunned stunned When he was in the early stages it was quite good he was quite mobile and still very active so we joined the RACV Club and we were still going to the gym and took up aqua and made a lot of friendships and we also took up travelling so we did quite a few trips the biggest being probably my birthday in 2016 and we went back to where his father was born on an island in Italy and renewed our vows which was a big highlight for us both and our very last one was probably last year and we took off to the Maldives and that was super special but soon after that he started to deteriorate a little bit more and travelling was becoming all too difficult and then he hit a rock bottom which was earlier this year and lost his will I was convinced when I had woken up that morning that I wanted to die and I said to my wife "Babe" "don't talk to me today" "I got nothing good to say" I called Russell to come out in the hope that you know we could give him some faith and will to continue living and being with us and that actually happened The next day I had met Keith who coordinated my dignity therapy Bruno was in a fairly low spot when I first me him he was clearly physically struggling with his illness but also he hadn't said before what he needed to say I explain dignity therapy as an opportunity for people to create a legacy document which incorporates the important things in their lives it incorporates the things they're proud of the things they've achieved but also incorporates their values the things they've learnt about life along the way and messages they'd like to give to their loved ones it's not a full life history it's much more than that it's more about who they are as a person and what they'd like to be remembered for and the things they want to say to the people who are the most important to them It had been uplifting for me it revealed a lot about myself and to have that read by my wife for the first time to my parents my dad kissed it and he held it close to his heart and that was a joyful thing It's just amazing what that Book of Reflections is able to bring me it had created the space for me to tell the important people in my life who they've been for me and that was just an unbelievable uplifting feeling to have drawn the courage from this document to have done that it was amazing not only for me but for those people I get all my family and friends that come to visit to read that booklet back to me and it keeps creating magic in new conversations for me I had discovered this will to live longer I think it's a must I think anyone that's going through an illness or a terminal illness it definitely brings you know hope and faith to a person and gives them a purpose gives them a purpose to keep going, keep fighting it's made the world of difference to us in particular and my children and the whole family its definitely been a magical thing as Bruno says Time is of the essence and I think that's where my true values have shifted towards understanding that time is the biggest gift that anybody can give of themselves

Channel: BarwonHealth

Views: 82,915

Rating: 4.8963962 out of 5

Keywords: Dignity Therapy, Health, Palliative Care, Geelong, Torquay, Barwon Health, MND, Motor Neurone Disease, Dying with Dignity, End of Life, Dignity, Life Stories, Life Reflections, Spiritual Care, ALS, MND Victoria, Volunteers

Id: SM_A5q6ucpE

Length: 7min 11sec (431 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 08 2018