The Last Breath - A podcast about death and dying

The Last Breath – a podcast about death and dying, is a series of podcasts developed from conversations with members of our Hospice Waikato team, our volunteers and people who are connected to hospice as they have had a loved one die in our care.  The conversations have been captured, edited and produced by local freelance writer Andrew Johnstone, whose father died in Hospice care in late 2023.

When we first met Andrew, he talked to us about his father's death and, on reflection, how little he understood about the dying process.  He felt that although every death is so very different, if he had been more exposed to conversations about dying, his personal experience would have been a little easier to understand.

As a bit of background on Andrew, he describes himself as a renaissance man – interested in everything but a master of nothing.  He is a musician, an artist, a gardener, a writer, and many, many other things. Andrew is perhaps most proud of his 2022 film, When The Cows Come Home – a documentary about him and his cows, directed by Costa Botes whose works include a 1995 film he co-wrote and directed with Peter Jackson called Forgotten Silver(and we’ve included a photo from that movie). 

Currently, his focus is on people and their stories and Andrew admits that this project, while fitting perfecting into this scope, has been a challenge.  Andrew found the task of recording and editing these podcasts insightful, thought-provoking and at times, very very sad.  He describes the series as an honest and compassionate insight into the last days of life.  

You can listen to each of the podcasts here.