Not everybody can say they got their wish before they died. Jackie Edgar did.
The former resident of Marietta Care and Rehabilitation Center in Marietta, OH, died last November. Just weeks before, the nursing home celebrated the publication of her book, “Then There Were Five (More),” a romance/science fiction story.
“The first thing people said was she got her dream,” recalls Valerie Strahler, activities director at the SunBridge Healthcare community.
The publication was courtesy of the Twilight Wish Foundation, which has granted 1,553 wishes to low-income older adults since 2003. Those wishes have included a certain tombstone, a golf cart for a group of retired nuns and a last visit with Great Danes, says Mary Farrell, director of community relations for the foundation.
The purpose is “to bring comfort and joy to them, to make sure they know they are acknowledged and remembered,” she says.
Edgar had been working on her book five years before she came to the nursing home. An avid reader as a child, her father made her limit the number of books she read each week to finish her chores.
Her book, a 537-page tome, in part was about a girl who was cloned and who encountered identical girls throughout her life, Strahler says. She held a book signing and presented a copy to the local library before she died and was planning to publish more.
From the February 01, 2011 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
