But the hope that hospice brings is a quality life, making the best of each day during the last stages of advanced illness. It's important to know that you can leave hospice and go into active cancer treatment any time you want. Sometimes the doctor, patient, or family member will resist hospice because they think it means “giving up” or that there’s no hope. Studies show hospice care often is not started soon enough. People with advanced cancer should have a discussion with their family members and doctor to decide together when hospice care should begin. In general, hospice care should be used when a person is expected to live about 6 months or less if the illness runs its usual course. Hospice care is used when a disease, such as advanced cancer, gets to the point when treatment can no longer cure or control it. Hospice care is also family-centered – it includes the patient and the family in making decisions. A team of professionals work together to manage symptoms so that a person’s last days may be spent with dignity and quality, surrounded by their loved ones. Hospice care treats the person and symptoms of the disease, rather than treating the disease itself. The hospice philosophy accepts death as the final stage of life: it affirms life, but does not try to hasten or postpone death. Hospice care provides compassionate care for people in the last phases of incurable disease so that they may live as fully and comfortably as possible. Hospice care is a special kind of care that focuses on the quality of life for people who are experiencing an advanced, life-limiting illness and their caregivers. Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of the first modern hospice You matter to the last moment of your life, and we will do all we can, not only to help you die peacefully, but also to live until you die.”
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