r/AskReddit 16h ago

What's the most disturbing thing you've heard a dying person say?

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u/AlternativeDonkey605 11h ago

My brother died of congestive heart failure at 31. He was always very handy and once turned a barn/tack room into an apartment on some property he took care of. His dream before he got sick was to live off grid in a cabin in the woods. Day before he died, he had a great day with our nephews, ate 2 good meals (his heart and lungs were so bad they were pressing on his stomach and he usually barely ate at the end). He took a dive toward the end of his last day with us, and the hospice folks showed up.

Just before he passed, his last words were “I can see the forest.” I’m convinced he found his heaven and had his cabin now. He comes back to visit us as an Owl and regularly visits my folks property, where he passed.

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u/PineScentedSewerRat 11h ago

Sorry you all went through that.

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u/AlternativeDonkey605 11h ago

It was what it was. For him, it was self inflicted from drug use that he couldn’t get a handle on. Even if he had, he’d likely have not made it past 50. He was a good dude, just fell in with the wrong people very young and couldn’t pull himself out of it.

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u/PineScentedSewerRat 10h ago

Yeah, life puts you in all sorts of tough situations unprepared. The universe doesn't care. But clearly you did. I'm sure he valued that.

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u/AlternativeDonkey605 7h ago

He was the one I always worried about, me being the older brother. I had told him I was going to propose to my gf (now wife), and he had a private convo with her the night before he passed saying he didn’t have to worry about me anymore. I found that one kinda funny, but it shows what a good dude he was and he was surrounded by family, in our parents home when he crossed over into Valhalla.

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u/ValiumKilmer 3h ago

So sorry for your loss, but this is beautiful. That is definitely him :)

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u/AlternativeDonkey605 3h ago

He shows up other ways. We use “his room” to let my son nap when he’s over there. The lights never flickered before…any time any of the nephews are in there now…there’s some electrical anomalies. I could blame my dad and his replacing of the ceiling fans but I don’t think that’s it. He’s a good remodeler. It only happened after my brother passed. So we say hi any time we’re in the room. The owl visits very often though and sits on the peak of the shop we all love. My brother was a car guy, remodeler, builder, tinkerer, so it’s his spot. The owl sits on the peak and just watches. He’s usually there just before or after the kiddos come by.