Woman With Terminal Cancer Granted Dying Wish To See The Ocean One Last Time

A woman has been granted her dying wish of getting to see the ocean one last time before she passed.

Carmen Leon de la Barra was suffering from advanced bowel cancer but hospital officials gave her and her family the green light to spend one of her last days alive at Brighton-Le-Sands in Sydney's south.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the beach was chosen because it's where Carmen and her husband Antonio used to walk everyday after work, always with a thermos of tea tucked away to enjoy the sunset.

Their daughter Tatiana Salloum has told the newspaper: "It was at least two or three months since Mum had seen the water.

"Dad couldn't take her because of the distance and because of how sick she was."

Even though she was in palliative care, they decided to allow the trip from Sydney's west to the south after the family got charity Dreams2Live4 involved.

Tatiana added: "When I told them Mum only had a few hours or days to live it became their mission to make it happen.

"Myself, my father, my two brothers, partners and seven of the nine grandchildren all headed to the beach from Mt Druitt.

"Mum had been sleeping a lot, but when we got to the beach she knew where she was and managed to open her eyes."

The family gathered around Ms Leon de la Barra's hospital bed perched at the beach and watched the sunset together for the last time. The Daily Telegraph says even a thermos full of tea was placed in the bed.

New South Wales paramedic Jeff Gadd told the Today Show on Channel 9: "It just came around very quickly, it all happened within five minutes from the time the request was made to when we're on our way to pick Carmen up.

"Everyone was on board and it was just one of the most joyful jobs I've ever done."

He added that it was the first time in 15 years that he was called to do a job like this but he said it was very rewarding.

Sadly, Carmen died on Friday.

The incredible act is similar to one done in Queensland two years ago when paramedics brought a dying patient to a beach in Hervey Bay to let them see the ocean one last time.

This sort of stuff definitely restores your faith in humanity that we let people have such a dignified end.

Featured Image Credit: Channel 9/Today Show

Topics: Beach, News, Feels, Cancer, Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie