‘I hate funerals’: woman with terminal cancer who traded funeral for party

“The best night of my life”.

This is how Linda Williams, a 76-year-old woman with terminal cancer, described the party she decided to throw instead of her funeral.

Williams, who received her diagnosis last year, says she “hates funerals” and would rather “dance the night away” with her friends as a farewell

The woman, from High Wycombe, a small town northwest of London, began organizing her party after receiving the news.

“I had a lot of fun,” said his former Tai Chi instructor.

“I’ve never been to a good funeral, it’s miserable events, so I decided I wanted a celebration of my life,” Williams told the BBC’s Charlie Jones.

“I almost died two weeks early so I made a cardboard cutout (of my figure) just in case, but I got to be there with all my friends“.

1940s

Williams always liked Spitfires (a British single-seat fighter used by the Royal Air Force -RAF- and many other allied countries during World War II).

Her parents were in the RAF and she grew up near their base at Walters Ash, where she used to watch the planes fly over her house.

After receiving your diagnosis, Williams began to write a list of his wishes and the first was to fly in a Spitfire. It was “insane, fantastic and more than I ever wanted.”

What followed was a 1940s party, which he threw in October, which included six performances, a raffle, a Union Jack cake and corned beef sandwiches.

“My party theme was ‘Battle for Britain,’ which was perfect because the 1940s is all about coming together when you have nothing, and sacrificing yourself to keep your freedom,” Williams explained.

For the occasion, he dressed in a pilot’s outfit of the time, with a parachute strapped to his back as if he had just jumped out of a plane. Its 124 guests could only access the celebration after entering the word enigma as an entry code.

However, the one who almost did not attend the big event was her, since her health began to deteriorate.

“I almost died right before, but I thought, ‘Whatever, I’m going to get there.’ I decided that she would do it and everyone had a great timesays Williams.

“I was so excited that I got there at 6, even though the party didn’t start until 7:30. My legs were swollen, but I still managed to dance all night and got lots of loving hugs,” she says.

“I didn’t leave until 1 in the morning, I had an adrenaline rush, and then I slept for almost two days.”

dance friends

Williams is very grateful to her friends who organized the party. She met many of her in a Lindy Hop dance class, which she began taking when she was 69 years old.

One of them, Jo Oxlade, said that it had been fantastic to be involved in organizing such a special celebration.

“Linda was very clear with us from the beginning that this party would be done with or without her,” she says.

“He told us: ‘If I’m there that night I want this song, but if I died I want a different song’, so the instructions were very clear.“.

A few months ago, Williams decided that “she had had enough with hospitals” and made the decision to stay at home, assisted by nurses from the palliative care NGO Rennie Grove Hospice Care.

Williams credits her “wonderful” nurses with keeping her alive long enough to make it to the party.

“Lin is a fighter, she made sure to pull through and make it to her party. She always sees the positive in her life and it is a true pleasure to take care of her.“said Fiona O’Neill, one of the hospice nurses.

“She is an amazing and inspiring person who we are lucky to have as a friend.”

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