FIRST PERSON
Our battle to bring Dad home to die
When routine tests revealed that Will Pavia’s 76-year-old father, Michael, had terminal cancer, hospital doctors told him he wasn’t allowed to go home. This is what Will and his family did next
Will Pavia’s father, Michael, in Tuscany in August 2022. He died earlier this year, at the age of 76
COURTESY OF WILL PAVIA
The Times
When I lose my marbles,” my father would say every now and then, usually after a large dinner, “take me behind the chicken shed and give me both barrels. It’s all planned. In my desk drawer you’ll find an envelope. It contains £1,000. Give that to Dave.”
Dave? His friend and handyman, who came once a week to do the garden?
“Yes. He’ll sort out the house. Put your mother in a nursing home in Yorkshire.”
This made a sort of sense. She is from Yorkshire. We should put her back there.
“What?” said my mother. “I don’t want to go to Yorkshire.”
After my sister Kate married a doctor named Piers, he became part of the plan too. “Piers is going to tread on
