Diary of Willow King

This blog post is provided from a letter written by our hospice patient, Willow King. Willow King is a 30-year-old woman from Nantucket who went into hospice care at our local hospital to be close to her family for the remaining 4 months of her life. She wanted us to share her story through a diary entry she wrote about her time in hospice care.

From the Diary of Willow King- Entry 1

" As I sit here in this hospital room, I reflect on the life I have lived, the choices I made, and the lessons I have learned. In March 2025, I was diagnosed with small lung cancer at the age of 30 years old. My twenty-year-old self would never think that the small choices I made back then would have such a terrible, life-threatening impact today. For many who made the same choices I did, they experience the same fate of lung cancer, but develop it later in life. While others would never experience the effects of their choices at all. I could say this was unfair, but it was my own choice that brought me where I am right now. In hospice, you begin to realize the beauty of life before this point. The small beach trips you took for granted, or the runs by the shore. Reflecting back, you realize how great you had life even when you did not believe so. The message I leave for those who are living the dream that is life- embrace it. You do not know when your final countdown is so make the most of every little moment."