No matter the cause, death may seem like it’s all the same in the end.
However, there may be ‘better’ ways to go, according to an end of care expert.
Julie McFadden, a hospice nurse in California, revealed on a podcast: ‘To me, there are a couple diseases that are the worst.’
The first cause she mentioned was ALS (amyotrophic lateral schlerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
The condition is 100 percent fatal, but it can take anywhere from a few years to decades to cause death – and this is usually excruciatingly cruel.
The nerve cells that control voluntary muscle movements gradually deteriorate and, over time, muscles stop functioning, eventually including those responsible for breathing.
When this happens, patients often end up choking to death.
‘I think ALS is one of the worst,’ Ms McFadden said in a TikTok clip from the Problem Solved podcast. ‘ALS is really bad. If I ever got ALS, I think I would take medical aid and dying, like I would probably end up taking medicine to end my own life.’
‘I just wouldn’t want to do it. That’s a tough one.’
The CDC estimates that there are roughly 5,000 new cases a year. It’s most common in adults ages 55 to 75, though patients can be as young as their twenties.
Commenters on the TikTok shared Ms McFadden’s sentiment.
User Jessica Weiser said: ‘I knew she would say ALS. Lost my dad to it, most cruel thing I’ve ever witnessed.’
‘My brother in law just passed last year from ALS. Horrible disease,’ a commenter named JZ said.
And Melissa Perfilio commented: ‘My grandma has ALS.’
‘It’s the worst thing seeing her deteriorate. Wouldn’t wish it on anyone.’
Ms McFadden also pointed to glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer that killed Senator John McCain in 2018 and President Joe Biden’s son Beau in 2015.
According to the National Brain Tumor Society (NBTS), nearly 15,000 Americans will be diagnosed with this cancer every year, and 10,000 will die.
Just one in 15 patients are expected to survive after five years,
‘Glioblastomas are pretty tough – that’s brain tumors. It usually happens to young people, and it’s just hard because it’s your brain, and your brain does a lot of stuff,’ Ms McFadden said.
‘When there’s tumors there, it messes things up.’
NBTS states that it only takes months before many patients lose their independence and become unable to work, drive, and perform other basic functions.
The disease is largely resistant to most treatments, and it can lead to debilitating symptoms like seizures, memory loss, and intense headaches.
On the other end of the spectrum, Ms McFadden pointed to kidney disease as one of the ‘easier’ ways to die.
Chronic kidney disease, also known as chronic kidney failure, occurs when another disease damages the organs and leaves them unable to properly filter out waste.
These include diabetes, high blood pressure, urinary obstructions, and recurrent infections, according to the Mayo Clinic.
When kidney disease progresses, the best treatment is a kidney transplant, though many patients wait on a transplant list for years, often becoming too sick for surgery.
Instead, patients undergo dialysis, which involves a machine removing waste from the blood when the kidneys can no longer do this.
‘End stage kidney disease is pretty gentle,’ Ms McFadden said.
‘You kind of have this long-standing chronic illness, so that’s not good. You’ve had to be on dialysis three days a week for 10 years, so that’s a long road and it can be difficult.’
‘But the end of that is pretty nice. You just stop dialysis and you go to sleep and then you die within seven days.’
‘People say, “I just want to fall asleep and die,” and that’s how it is for kidney disease.’
Several commenters agreed.
Myfreshstart said: ‘Lost my dad to end stage kidney disease. It was a peaceful, beautiful passing. Nothing left unsaid and SO MUCH LOVE.’
And Miharty wrote: ‘My dad passed of late stage kidney disease. he stopped dialysis when he was ready to go. we all got to say goodbye on his terms. he was done.’
