Dear runner,

I am not an unbeliever. I believe one should be kind and question authority. I believe we have only this life to live. I believe that the scientific method is a good way to find out about what goes on in the world. I believe many things.

I just don't choose to be believe in superstition.

Perhaps we who are Atheists are not controlled by the dogma of religion,Heaven if you are good, Hell if you are bad, I personally do not fear death as some of my religious friends do.
Perhaps one must first look at our beginning, it is by a fluke of nature that we all make it here,no God or Fairy involved,I could have just as easily hit my head at the tip of a condom and gone nowhere, or perhaps washed down the drain with a shower, this would mean I would not be here, would I have missed anything if this was the case,I don't think so, because I knew nothing before an act of intercourse taking place, and me being a good swimmer,nothing to do with any super being, my belief is that after my death the exact same scenario will take place, I will not be here anymore, I will miss nobody, I will not join my family in any way, they have not missed me, because their death meant the same as I believe, nothingness,they no longer know that I exist, one will return to the elements at first and then for billions of years become someone who really did not exist at all, there will be no house of many rooms as so many believe.
I like "Yabby" am very concerned that my ending will not be the ending I want owing to Religious crap, I want compassion when I have lost dignity and my body is wracked in unbearable pain, that would mean an early exit of my choosing and not being left to the ravages of Morphine induced death at a later date in a Hospice.
My life and death belongs to me, and me only.

Most posts seem to miss Peter's main point, that dying from an illness need not be seen as a "battle". Peter, however, seems a little narrow in explaining how one can transform dying from a battle to something more meaningful. He believes it only occurs through some sort of arrangement with Christ (who another poster described as some carpenter who died 2000 years ago - I got a good laugh from that).
No Peter, there are many approaches to confronting your mortality in a soul-expanding way that may not involve any carpenters. And by the way, some of the natural healing approaches to trying to recover from cancer can possibly make the amount of time you have left be better, as well as increasing the chances of a remarkable recovery. Meditation for example - there is some evidence that it can assist people with serious illnesses to recover - but also it could greatly enhance the remaining 6 months, 12 months, or whatever you have. All in all a most interesting article, even if it got a little weird when Christ entered the picture.

Peter. a fine and timely article. The key to your proposition is not a belief in Christ and membership of his Church but the "encounter" with him. This is terminology used a lot lately by Pope Benedict XVI and is popping up in various Catholic Scripture reflections including the recent Lenten home based programmes.
The encounter is certainly a step beyond pew sitting or prayer saying. It can be a small, very deliberate, step but a giant leap as it takes us into the domain of relationship that itself is nourished by prayerful meditation and contemplation. Therein is the peace and joy of living life to the full with death becoming just a final event in the whole of life. No big deal.
The only condemnation that may confront us is by future generations of us as an entire generation or two who became hooked on "if it feels good do it" as self autonomous individuals who lived life freely but so irresponsibly with consumerism becoming both the image and the form of worship to the new god

*Therein is the peace and joy of living life to the full with death becoming just a final event in the whole of life*

Sheesh, people like me figured that out a long time ago and have
lived accordingly. Where I have a problem is when people like the
pope do their contemplating, they have no problem when their dogma
lands up torturing old and sick people against their will and use
the mega billions of the Vatican for lobbying politicians to enforce
the presently contemplated dogma on the rest of us.

Luckily the Anglicans don't seem quite as fanatical.

Yabby. I am not sure what universe you are dwelling in. But it seems there is no peace and joy there. That hackneyed stuff contributes nothing to the discussion.
You have one life and if you forgo the "encounter" it is a life less lived. Unlike wealth, good health or power or self autonomy, you cannot build it for yourself. It is a gift on offer, uniquely to you.
Cheers