A hospice nurse who has seen hundreds of people die shared what those on their deathbeds would commonly say to her as they reflected on their lives.
Julie McFadden, best known as Hospice Nurse Julie, has a huge online presence and boasts 659,000 subscribers on YouTube, 520,000 on Instagram, and a whopping 1.7 million followers on TikTok.
On top of that, Julie has written her own book titled Nothing to Fear: Demystifying Death to Live More Fully, which made her a New York Times bestselling author.
Julie discusses a wide range of topics online, and in one video she shared the three things she'd never do as they can stop a person from living longer.
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The things? Drinking alcohol on a daily basis, smoking or vaping, and riding a motorcycle or ATV.
Speaking about vaping specifically, Julie said: "Vaping is just as bad [as smoking]," adding: "It affects more than just the lungs. It affects your whole cardiovascular system."
She went on to say of booze: "I've seen enough people die alcoholic deaths, meaning from liver cirrhosis, because of drinking, to know that it is not good. And it is preventable."
Another thing Julie has spoken out about in the past is when people are at their final stages of life and what they will say to her when they're on their deathbed.
Speaking to Rob Moore on his Disruptors podcast in 2024, Julie explained that the first wish people have in their final moments is that they didn't spend so much time at work — something that's easier said than done when we have bills to pay.
The second and even more common, however, relates to something we have a little bit more power over.
Julie said: "The main thing people say, that I don't hear a lot of people mention, is 'I wish I would have appreciated my health'."
It's easy to take our health for granted when we're feeling well, but as soon as sickness hits, it can make us long for our health again.
Having seen that happen on a much more impactful scale, Julie has attempted to learn from her patients and now writes a 'gratitude list' each night to remember what people take for granted, and what she's grateful for.
She explained: "I like the fact that I can breathe, I'm walking around, I can feel the sunshine – little things like that.
"I think the biggest thing I hear from people [who are] dying is that they wish they would have appreciated how well they felt before."
Niamh Shackleton