HW 17

I have little experience with illness and dying.  I have been very lucky I still have all of my grandparents and none of them have any serious illness and they're all in their 80's. Why is this though? Is it because my ancestors have been healthy with no diseases for generations? I have been sick but never really badly that I needed to be in a hospital.  My second cousin developed diabetes when he was about 11 or 12. It came out of nowhere, none of his father's or mother's families have had diabetes. He is the same age as I am, he has to give himself insulin and he has to always think about his blood sugar level, he knows what to do when it's too high and he can feel when it's too low. This makes me wonder how can we be healthy if something like this can happen? A disease just comes out of nowhere.. How can we prevent that? In our countries we may survive some serious illness that may cause death in other poor or 3rd world countries. I know someone that is sick with both diabetes and kidney disease. He needs to go into the hospital for dialysis once every week. But in this case both of his parents died from diabetes in their 50's. If he would've stayed in his country he would have probably not have survived to be as old as he is now.  
For dying, I've had a few family members pass away recently from old age and a heart attack. I don't know anyone dying now.  I've been taught that dying is part of the life cycle, everything that is alive will eventually die. I've been taught that everyone has there time to go, that's why it's good to fight illness because if it's not your time to go you'll survive. It's important to take care of yourself and celebrate life to understand your purpose in life.
I think the social norms around illness and dying is that you have to support that person.  Everyone sends in get well cards and flowers when someone is sick in the hospital.  When it comes to dying it is the same and people try to comfort the family and the person that may be dying. Another thing in our society is that you're not allowed to help a dying person that's suffering by letting them go. It's illegal to stop treatments and let the person die. I don't think this is necessarily right, I understand that it's a difficult decision and who can make the decision is also difficult but I think if the person is hurting and suffering and is ready to die they should be allowed to do so.