Hello,

As you may know my Mom, Pam Louise Fellows, had not been well recently and was in the hospital with terminal cancer. On Monday, October 24th at about 5pm she passed away peacefully by MAID (Medical Assistance in Dying). The doctor who facilitated it was caring, sensitive and wonderful at what he does. My partner Chris and I were also present at her request. We both agreed that it was an incredibly beautiful transition. All three of us laughed, cried and expressed so many feelings and thoughts beforehand. We listened to the gorgeous music of Yo-Yo Ma playing Ennio Morricone given to her by my Aunt Sue Pennington. I’m sure you know, my Mom was deeply moved by music and it brought her to tears of happiness. It happened to be an absolutely stunning day on Monday which seemed very fitting for my Mom to go out on such a day. I like to think Mother Nature was glowing for her as she was one who very much appreciated natural beauty.

My Mom shared that she was feeling incredibly grateful to have lived the interesting and fulfilling life that she did and most of all she was grateful for the amazing people in her life - friends, students and family. You, her loyal, supportive and loving friends meant so very much to her!! On Monday she expressed her gratitude for you all and said to Chris and I, “wow, I have a lot of friends and they really seem to like me!”😊

My Mom was indeed an extraordinary person! So incredibly warm, sensitive, empathetic, generous, supportive, fun, resilient, passionate, feisty, playful, humorous and loving. She was very certain of her decision to engage in MAID because she believed strongly in quality of life over quantity. Fortunately her other two children, Jason and Lisa both made it out from BC prior to share in meaningful visits with her to connect and say goodbye.

We will be having a life celebration to honour her life for family only. We would love to hear a favourite “Pam story” if you feel like sharing and we will have it printed for the celebration.

I have included at the end of this email a photo taken on her last day glowing with gratitude and another from her 79th birthday this past September.

My partner Chris found a haiku called, Temple Bells Die Out in her apartment while we were packing it up. He got the sense that it had great significance to her because he also found some of her own writings about it. He brought it for her on Monday and read it aloud to her, so I will part with it for you…

Love to you all,
sarah
xoxo