"When a priest arrived to deliver Millie's last rites, Lynch was the only family member present. Hospital staff escorted her out of the room for the ceremony but brought her back in when Millie, fiery to her last days, protested. For more than two years, Lynch had lived in western Massachusetts with Millie, the woman who had raised her since she was 12 years old. Lynch left behind her life as a public accountant at Ernst & Young's Boston office after Millie's diagnosis, getting transferred to an office closer to home to be with her aunt as she saw doctor after doctor about her progressing breast and lung cancer."
""Everything was unfamiliar. It was confusing, it wasn't logical," Lynch recalls. "When her doctors would talk to me, I wouldn't understand the medication terminology or the discharge instructions. I didn't know what each prescription was for. And I didn't know what kinds of questions to ask or where to get help.""
"Millie was more than an aunt to Lynch. When Lynch's mother, Irene, died by suicide in 1975, Millie took in and raised Lynch and her three siblings, who were, in effect, orphaned (their father left when the children were young). A widow and single mother of one who spent her days in a local factory making baby clothes for the brand Carter's, Millie dedicated herself to her nieces and nephew, Lynch says, reminding them: "Don't let your past experiences dictate your future.""
Karen Lynch became primary caretaker for her Aunt Millie, living with her for more than two years and leaving a Boston accounting job to be nearer. Millie experienced progressing breast and lung cancer while covered by Medicare, which did not eliminate Lynch's anxiety about the illness. Lynch struggled to understand medication names, discharge instructions and medical bills, and she researched cancer to try to comprehend the disease. A priest delivered last rites during Millie's final days, and staff temporarily escorted Lynch from the room before Millie demanded her return. Millie had raised Lynch after Lynch's mother's 1975 suicide and emphasized overcoming past hardships.
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