[Support for a cancer-suffering mother's desire to live].

We consider the case of a woman in her 50s with thyroid cancer, lung metastasis and dyspnea; living with her high-school student son, she had a strong wish to live to see him graduate and was deeply troubled by her inability to fulfill her role as a mother in practice. The palliative care team provided support during her time in the hospital with the aim of allowing her to still feel like a mother. As her condition worsened and the prospect of death became clear, the patient expressed to staff her feelings as a mother of not wishing her son to see her suffering and dying as she approached the end. It is believed that the support for the patient's feelings helped her to maintain her sense of autonomy and self-worth.