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A sensory immersion into leaving the body “The Last Ecstatic Days” reveals a man who will not let us forget him – even after he’s taken his final breath.
Ethan Sisser, a young man afflicted with brain cancer, sits alone in his hospital room. When he begins live-streaming his death journey on social media, thousands of people around the world join him and celebrate his courage. Still, Ethan envisions more – to teach the world how to die.
To honor his final wish of filming his death, his doctor and death doula, Aditi Sethi, transports him to a quiet house in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville, North Carolina. What unfolds next is a story that's rarely glimpsed: how a community of strangers helps an unhoused man die on his own terms.
“In my years as a hospice and palliative medicine physician, the allopathic medical system has taught me everything it can about death and dying. Yet, there was a whisper in my ear, a knowing in my heart, that there was more. It took caring for this incredible young man, Ethan Sisser, to help me realize that we have forgotten that death is not simply a medical event, a failure of our medical system. It is a natural, relational and spiritual process that requires community and family support. We cannot solely depend on our systems to care for individuals and we can and must get creative as we move forward.”
– Aditi Sethi, MD
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Inspired by her experience caring for Ethan, Aditi founded the Center for Conscious Living and Dying.
The Last Ecstatic Days impact campaign will spread awareness of CCLD’s model and the community deathcare movement to usher in the new, burgeoning paradigm of conscious end-of-life care emerging around the world. Join the movement: check out the film’s impact campaign, subscribe to their newsletter for updates on upcoming screenings and events, and follow the film on social media!