I have lost quite a few family and friends to cancer, and there is a strange phenomenon that I have noticed and I wonder if you could shed some light on it for me, or perhaps some of the other commenters on this forum have maybe experienced the same thing.  I nursed my Mum through terminal cancer, and 6 weeks before she died, she seemed to get a burst of  life.  One day she got up, got showered and dressed and insisted that she wanted to go out and get some shopping.  I tried to persuade her that she wasn't well enough, but she insisted, and sure enough she went out and did some shopping.  However, a few days later she was ill again, and a few weeks after that, she died.  I have also seen this in other people that were near to death:  They suddenly seem to become well for a short amount of time, this might be a few days or only a few hours, and then they quickly deteriorate again and then they pass.  Has anyone else experienced this with the death of a loved one?  And what is it that causes this sudden burst of life?