It can be scary seeing someone you love get closer to the end of their life, but something that may be even scarier are the behaviours they display when they get near to that point.
But a nurse has explained what these are and why we shouldn't worry too much.
Julie McFadden is a Los Angeles-based nurse that has revealed the one behaviour that people display before they die.
The health professional has built up a huge following on social media, with over one million followers across all channels, as she shares her knowledge and insights into the process of death.
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As a hospice nurse, it is her job to care for the terminally ill, and so has a lot of experience when it comes to helping people when they are reaching the end of their days.
The 41-year-old recently posted a video on YouTube titled 'End of Life Visioning and the Death Stare', where she reveals information about something that happens to people in their final days and the 'death stare' that they show.
What is the death stare and end of life visioning?
The nurse began to explain: "If you're not familiar with the end-of-life phenomena, there's a few things that happen at the end of life to most people.
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"One of the things is called a death stare, which is when someone gets really fixated on a certain part of the room, and no matter what you do - you can snap your finger right in front of their face - and they will not move their gaze," she revealed.
Nurse Julie said that sometimes 'they just stare', and they can even talk to someone who isn't actually there, while having a huge smile on their face.
This phenomenon is known as the 'death stare'.
This is often paired with something called 'end-of-life visioning', where the dying person says they see someone who they love, but that has already died.
"They will sometimes have conversations right in front of us with these people that we don't see," she added.
Nurse Julie then shared a chilling story of an elderly man who was displaying these behaviours when she checked in on him.
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He was being cared for by his wife of over 70 years, with both being in their mid-90s.
She said they were 'so, so, so sweet', and said that the husband was 'pleasantly confused', knowing who his wife was and being polite, but struggled to hold a conversation and keep up with what was going on.
She said: "I noticed that he would be looking at me and smiling, then suddenly turn his head and be fixated on another part of the room, and then smile this huge smile, like he was seeing something over there.
"And he kept doing it throughout the whole visit … I could not get his attention when he would do that. And then suddenly this big smile would come on his face."
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When she showed his wife, she said that he had been doing it for a week already, as this phenomena happens in the weeks leading up to death.
He told his wife he was seeing Jesus, but the nurse said it could be anything at all, based on the person's religion mostly.
But things get a bit more eerie from here, as Nurse Julie said she got 'chills' telling this next part of the story.
The couple were close to the wife's sister, who has passed recently, but she chose not to tell him in the fear that he would get upset.
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However, when she finally told him, he revealed: "She came to me last week and said she had died."
What causes the death stare?
We don't currently know why people who are dying see things that aren't there or stare fixedly at one point of the room.
In another of her videos, Julie said: "At the end of life, almost everyone will have their eyes open and not be making eye contact.
"It takes muscles to close people's eyes so when you're dying those muscles are relaxed and your eyes are open.
"This is different than that. This is when we are clearly seeing them looking and making eye contact with something or someone that we don't see.
"With all the different phenomena that can happen at the end of life, we don't know why this happens, but we see it enough that I like to educate about it so you guys know it's normal."
Topics: Social Media, YouTube, Health
Joshua Nair