West Coast Trail

Ruth Trueman

Over the past several weeks I have questioned whether writing an account of a recent visit with a patient on the Palliative Care Unit would be suitable for the Art à la Carte website. My concern has been over the directness of the patient’s response to the first image she chose, if in fact it might be too forthright for posting.

West Coast Trail (Image by Jeff Maihara, Canadian Art Prints)

As the picture was so meaningful to her, and such an exceptional example of the healing quality of art, I have decided to put my doubts aside and share the story with you.

The female patient, who appeared to be in her fifties, could not have been more buoyant in spirit as she welcomed us into her room to chat about exchanging images on her wall for new ones. Nothing in her demeanor hinted at the gravity of her illness.

I came in with a beauty titled The West Coast Trail. It was a picture of a lush forest setting on the coast of BC, and included a path that gently curved toward the ocean in the background. Upon seeing it she immediately exclaimed, “It looks exactly like Seal Bay! I grew up on that part of Vancouver Island and spent most of my life there. I often walked to the beach to watch the seals and whales in the water. Oh, my goodness. It is so familiar, so beautiful. I can smell the vegetation, feel the damp atmosphere. I miss it, and when my treatments are over in a few weeks I am going home to die. I want to be there at the end.”

Moved by her unexpected frankness, all I could manage to say in reply was, “Yes.”

Hearing this, Maxine and Nicola, the volunteers who were with me, returned to our cart, found two other images of the coast and offered them. Up they went! Very satisfied with the fresh look to her bedside environment the patient thanked us wholeheartedly for our work.

After a little more conversation with her and some warm hugs, the three of us left her room. Looking at each other in the hospital corridor we knew there was nothing to do but appreciate the opportunity we had been given: to bring to a dying patient the small gift of an image’s enduring memory, and which held for her, as her life was winding down, the comforting promise of one more.