The other Wes Moore needed to tell his mother that he got Alicia pregnant. Have you ever had to give someone news that you knew would break their heart? How did you build up the courage?

The other Wes Moore needed to tell his mother that he got Alicia pregnant. Have you ever had to give someone news that you knew would break their heart? How did you build up the courage?

I remember the day my great-aunt passed away. She had been fighting cancer for over a year and was home for hospice care. I was her caretaker and spent every day with her until my cousin came home to continue care. Being with her every day, we became very close. My cousin her daughter and I became much closer as well.

The day my dear aunt passed away was a regular day. We woke up got cleaned up and had breakfast. We made sure her oxygen tank was working and my cousin wen off to work. My aunt and I loved to watch Bad girls club together. We put the show on and had a great time watching and talking and laughing together. She was quitter than usual that day and her energy was a bit low, but that was to be expected since she had good and bad days. We had some family members and church members come over, which was normal. They had bible study and prayers and we had lunch. Around 2pm after cleaning up my aunt was unusually quiet. Being on the oxygen machine, I would hear some wheezing from her, and I no longer heard it. I went to check on her and she was no longer breathing. I quickly started CPR and got 911 on the phone. 

While performing CPR and on the phone with emergency services, I called my cousin on my cell. It has so hard not to sound panicked. I calmly asked her to come home because her mother was not breathing. I didn’t want her to drive under that stress, but I had no choice but to ask her to come. I then had to call my mother to have her come home as well because I was not sure what would happen next. I continued CPR until the paramedics arrived. I wanted them to keep working on my aunt and hopefully save her, so I hid the fact that she had a DNR. I really didn’t want them to know she had a Do Not Resuscitate because they would have to immediately stop working on her and allow her to die. When my cousin arrived less than 10 minutes later, she also did not want to tell them about the DNR, but they took notice of the equipment and asked what documents we had for her. My cousin showed them the folder and they found the DNR and had to stop working on her. My aunt did not wake up and passed away. We had to break the news to my mom and my cousin’s daughter was coming home from school around that same time. She was 8 years old and very close t her grandmother who just died. We had to take her upstairs and sadly break the news to her that she just lost her grandmother. She was devastated. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do, tell 3 people in one day that someone they love is gone. It didn't take courage in my mind because it was inevitable, it just had to be done. I pray I never have to do that again in life.