Make your ultimate dream come true, care for a horse before you die

Realizing the last dream before dying, that of taking care of a horse. This is what Aurora, 80 years old, managed to do. She is facing an end-of-life path at the Fiore di primavera hospice in Prato, managed by the ASL Toscana Centro and where the operators and volunteers of File, the Italian Foundation for Lenitherapy, provide assistance. The Foundation today recounts what happened in a note.

In recent days, the lady expressed to the hospice and File workers, as a sort of last wish, that of coming face to face with a horse. Given the difficulties in getting Aurora out of the hospice, who is in a wheelchair and does not have autonomy in her movements, it was decided to bring a horse into the garden of the facility. An undertaking made possible thanks also to the Dei Re di Comeana farm, which brought Ice, an 18-year-old horse, to the hospice. Aurora, it is reported, was initially intimidated, but thanks to the hospice staff and the stable workers she gradually loosened up, to the point of taking a carrot and feeding it to the horse.

“In my life – these are Aurora’s words reported – I have always been afraid of horses, an inexplicable and irrational fear, and so, now that I have reached the end of my life, I have tried to overcome this fear. This time I have managed to conquer this atavistic fear”. “Giving value and dignity to life, just like palliative care does, also means trying, when possible, to give space to those desires that resemble dreams and that allow, in some way, to close the circle and give meaning to the time that remains – explains File president Livia Samminiatelli Branca -. Every day in the hospices where we operate, File operators and volunteers try to fulfill the small daily desires of the guests. Protecting desires is a way of taking care of life and people and fulfilling Aurora’s desire was made possible thanks to formidable teamwork”.