Nicole Chung

A Memoir

A Living Remedy

Katy Watkins

I think of how many times I have heard terminal illness and death referred to as "equalizers," as if they can flatten our differences and disparities simply because they come for all of us sooner or later. Sickness and grief throw wealthy and poor families alike into upheaval, but they do not transcend the gulfs between us, as some claim—if anything, they often magnify them. Who has the ability to make choices that others lack? Who is left to scramble for piecemeal solutions in an emergency? If you have no rainy-day savings or paid medical leave, if your support system is scant or under-resourced, if preventative or lifesaving treatment is harder for you to access or altogether out of reach, you will have a profoundly different experience from those who become seriously ill—or find themselves caring for sick or dying loved ones—knowing that, if nothing else, they can afford to meet the moment.

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