We are celebrating the life of our cherished Aunt Dorothy (Bert to those closest to her). Dorothy had gone into the hospital on January 27th with pneumonia. Her medical team told us because of her oxygen levels she needed to be put on a ventilator and that they would be putting her into ICU. Our hospital didn't have space for her, so she was taken to a hospital 50 miles away and put into their ICU. While there, my brother had told them about her heart condition. They ran blood work and found she had recently had a heart attack along with the pneumonia. They tried to remove the tube to see if she could breathe on her own. They had managed on the second try to take her off the ventilator, but approximately 18 hours later they had to put her back on it. During her recovery from the pneumonia, she remained dependent on a ventilator. Regrettably, her medical team advised that ventilator removal would necessitate a tracheostomy, this would result in placing Dorothy in a long-term care facility - an outcome that she was vehemently against. Demonstrating remarkable strength and fortitude, Aunt Dorothy chose to discontinue ventilator support and implement a do-not-resuscitate order. After Aunt Dorothy and my brother had a few more discussions with her medical team, it was decided at this time, since she is in the best shape she has been in since arriving at their hospital, it was time to take her off the ventilator. We hoped and prayed for the best outcome. So on February 20th, the medical team took her off the ventilator. Aunt Dorothy had been maintaining a good oxygen level for several hours. So we had decided to leave and get some rest and go back in the morning. Aunt Dorothy had other plans for us. We got a call at 11:15 pm that she wasn't doing well. So we jumped in the car to be with her. It turned out that she just wanted a sleepover. We left in the morning. Terry (brother) and I went back to be with her around noon. She was doing well when we got back to the hospital to be with her. The medical team said that Aunt Dorothy was doing pretty well and she was going to be moved out of ICU and to a regular floor later that day. Since Aunt Dorothy was on pain medication to keep her comfortable and she was sleeping, we decided to go home and come back in the morning . An hour and a half later, a call came saying she had taken a turn when they had moved her. We needed to come right away. When we got there, she was having a hard time breathing. We propped her up some, and that seemed to help. Terry, his girlfriend, and I were at her side when she took her last breath. In the aftermath of her passing, my brother and I are grappling with both the emotional toll and financial burden, specifically the costs associated with cremation, a headstone, and burial, all in accordance with her final wish to rest beside her daughter.