35 Last Words Parents Told Their Children On Their Deathbeds That Will Emotionally Wreck You
Losing a parent is hard. But for some people, being present for their parent's last words can be a comfort (unfortunately, for others, it only makes the experience more difficult).
Recently, we asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to share their parents' last words, and their stories were alternately inspiring, funny, and scary...but always emotionally powerful. Here's what they had to say:
1."My father was dying of liver cancer rather suddenly. On his last day, he was awake, and we talked all day. In the evening, his breath became shallow; he called to me and said, 'I think I did pretty well.' He fell asleep and passed."
—anonymous
2."My mom was in the intensive care unit. We all got to the hospital and were all in the room with her when she came to and decided to tell us, 'Marriage is ...(long pause) ...unique and different.' We all laughed because she had been married to our dad since 1934, and my dad passed in 2012. Then she closed her eyes and passed. I totally understand what she meant since I've been married for 33 years."
—anonymous
3."My mom's last words to me on her deathbed were 'I made you a better man'… and she did. God, I miss her."
—anonymous
4."My mom had been dealing with brain cancer for 14 months, and it was nearing the end. She was very restless and upset. I asked her what was wrong. She said she was upset because her two daughters (myself and my sister) were prostitutes and lived in a brothel. We calmed her down by telling her to take a nap, and that we would get the family together for a meeting to discuss what to do. And no, we were not prostitutes."
—anonymous
5."Many years ago, a friend was at the bedside of her dying mother, who was alternately lucid and then not. Her father, Michael, was the love of her mother's life and had died several years earlier. During one lucid moment, my friend's mother said, 'Michael keeps asking me to dance.' My friend replied, 'Oh, Mama, say yes.' And with that, she took her last breath and went to dance with her true love for eternity."
6."The last words from my grandmother were, 'You'll find someone, it won't be easy, but it will work out.' She passed four days later. I didn't think much of what she said as I had been single for a long time. Eighteen months later, I met someone, and there were a lot of external issues that were testing, but we got married two years ago, so she was right."
7."My dad said to me, 'I didn’t want to leave you so soon, little one.'”
8."After suffering a debilitating heart attack a week earlier, my grandfather told my cousin that he was 'tired of needing help to do everything and was going to take a nap and not wake up,' almost as if he was in control of his own destiny on the matter. He was found having passed peacefully in his bed later in the afternoon."
—anonymous
9."My father was a successful but angry man due to a very difficult upbringing. His last words were, 'Fuck ‘em, fuck ‘em all.'”
—anonymous
10."My 84-year-old great-uncle and his wife, parents of 11 children, held hands as he lay dying. He looked at her and muttered his last words, 'Will you marry me?'"
—anonymous
11."When my mom passed away, the last words she said were, 'I'm coming… I'm coming, Carl!' Carl was her brother (my uncle) who passed away a few months before her. I reckon that they're all just chilling together in heaven, along with my dad (who passed away in April, 2023). I understand that not everyone believes in heaven, but that's my interpretation behind her last statement."
12."My wife's grandmother passed away at the age of 94. The last thing she said to any of the family members was 'get me better doctors.'"
—anonymous
13."My Dad had stage 4 lung cancer and only a few days to live. The doctors came into his hospital room and asked my Dad if he was going to have a burial or cremation. My Dad wanted to be cremated, and I yelled, 'Dad, I was hoping you would want a burial.' I was so upset; the thoughts of losing my Dad forever were overwhelming. My Dad sat up on the bed, looked at me, and said, 'Honey, just put me on a shelf, and I'll watch TV with you all the time.' My Dad was always cracking jokes. That was his last one."
—anonymous
14."My father's last words heard were 'Doodie, the devil has me. I'm in his grasp right now.' I said, 'Do you see Jesus? Call out to him.' He replied, 'It's too late.'"
—anonymous
15."When my widowed grandma was dying in a hospital, she kept coming in and out of sleep. Each time, she kept complaining about the 'stairs' and how there were 'so many steps going up' that she was exhausted. Then, the last time she woke up, her last words to my mom and mom's siblings were, 'It's okay...your father is here to help me up the stairs.'"
16."My mother was dying from bone and brain cancer. She suddenly lit up and said, 'Momma? Grandma? AUNT MARGIE?!' I asked if she could see them (they'd all passed years before), and she excitedly told me, 'YES! They're waiting for me!' With tears in my eyes, I told her, 'Go, Momma. You've had a good life; we'll all be ok." She passed away about 10 hours later without saying anything else."
—anonymous
17."My father passed May 31, 2020 (not from Covid). The Friday before he passed, he had the nurse call me from his hospital room. He told me that he loved me. He never said that to me in his 93 years. That's when I knew he was going. My three boys and I were fortunate enough that the hospital let us see him before he passed on Sunday. The four of us got to say goodbye."
—anonymous
18."In life, my father-in-law was always witty and quick with clever retorts. In his final hours in palliative care and suffering from bone cancer, he lay quietly sleeping as he had for days. About ten family members had gathered in the room, sitting solemnly around the bed. Nurses came and went, tending to his needs and advising us that the end was near. A cleric appeared, introduced himself to us, approached the bed, and whispered closely in his ear, 'Hi, Johnny. It's Chaplain Fred. I just want you to know that your family is here, and we're all thinking about you.' Johnny's eyes popped open, and he exclaimed, 'Good or bad?' Everyone in the room burst out laughing. Those were his last words. He passed a few hours later."
—anonymous
19."My Mom passed from cancer six years ago and was definitely not lucid her last 2 or 3 days in hospice. I spent those days talking to her, hoping she could hear me. She opened her eyes once, looked at me, and said, "SHHHHH!!! Daddy and I are talking!" (Daddy had been gone since 1983.) She closed her eyes again and passed the next afternoon."
20."My father was on an aircraft carrier in the Philippines during WWII. When he was on his deathbed, he suddenly grabbed my hand and said, 'The explosions! You stay here where the oxygen, alcohol, and ammunition are.' I assumed he was reliving an experience from the war, but it still sounds like good advice."
—anonymous
21."My grandpa was in hospice, and when he refused any more treatment, the doctor said he had about a week. So the family was in and out — we didn't want him to pass alone, so there was always at least one person there — and one day my cousin pulled out his cellphone and was messing with it. The sun hit the screen and reflected onto the ceiling, and all of a sudden, my grandpa opened his eyes and exclaimed, 'I SEE THE LIGHT! I SEE THE LIGHT!' And then he went back into unconsciousness."
"That night, I sat with him around 1 a.m. and talked about random things – bible verses, the Cubs, singing — just in case he could hear me. Suddenly he grabbed my hand, looked at me, and said, 'I love you, Britany,' and went back to sleep. Less than 24 hours later, without waking again, he passed. He wasn't getting anyone's names right before he slipped into unconsciousness, so for him to wake up — call me by name and tell me he loved me — will forever be one of the things I hold dear. And I will always laugh about him 'seeing the light.'"
22."My Mom, who was terrified of death her whole life, woke up from a cancer-induced coma a few hours before she passed in the hospital, opened her eyes, smiled wide, and said clear as a bell: 'It's beautiful! It's wonderful! I'm so happy!' It was the greatest gift I ever received or ever will."
—anonymous
23."My dad was 87 years old on hospice care at home. In his last moments, the caretaker gathered all of us around his bed. My dad looked around at each person, then cried out to my mom, 'Honey, I'm not ready to go!' I don't want to leave you alone!' We were all crying. My mom replied, 'Honey – I will be OK – you can let go. It's OK.' Then he relaxed and let go and passed away."
—anonymous
24."I never felt anything I did was good enough for my Mom. Despite being the first in my family to go to college (Harvard, at that), writing several books, and winning numerous awards, I always felt like she was disappointed in me, probably because I am gay. I once told her this, and she looked at me in astonishment and replied, 'But I'm so proud of you!' Years later, she was rushed into emergency surgery. I lived in Boston, and she was in my hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, so our last conversation was by phone. She was already under an anesthetic but somehow had the presence of mind to say, 'I'm so proud of you.' Those were the last words I ever heard her say."
—anonymous
25."We finally had to place my mother in a nursing home at the age of 105 after she fell in her apartment. She was lucid right to the end and knew everything that was happening to her. The day before she died I left her to go home, but what she said before I left stayed with me. 'It's almost time.'"
—anonymous
26."My mother was 90 and diagnosed with end-stage colon cancer. She was at the very end and had been unconscious for quite a few days. Suddenly, she opened her eyes, sat up, and said, 'Am I back?' I asked, 'From where?' But she never answered me. She just laid back down and quietly passed away."
—anonymous
27."When he was close to the end, my father put his hands on my daughters' heads (they would've been four at the time). In Judaism, there's a Shabbat prayer that requires a parent to lay their hand on their child's head in blessing. I want to believe that's what my father was doing before leaving us."
28."My grandmother suffered from Alzheimer's for more than eight years. As the end neared, she could not form words, but that didn't stop her from talking. As always, she chatted on and on, even though it was just gibberish. The day before she died, my daughter (10 then) and I were visiting and listening to the Great One ramble on and on. At one point, she stopped mumbling, looked at my daughter, and said, 'Look at that baby!' She said those words with such joy! The next night, she passed away, not having uttered another intelligible word. Alzheimer's took all of her except her love for her great-granddaughter."
—anonymous
29."I was sitting in a nursing home with my 94-year-old dad, and the last thing he said to me as he looked up was, 'Do you see that beautiful river?' I told him I did, and that's the last time I saw him alive. He was the best daddy. I saw a big rainbow on his birthday that year."
30."When my husband's grandpa was in hospice, he was supposed to be on a strict diet, which he hated. My cousin-in-law would smuggle in takeout from nearby restaurants when he visited. My husband and I visited him one afternoon when we knew the end was close. He was napping but woke up long enough to talk for a few minutes. My husband asked him how he'd liked the lunch his cousin had brought in earlier. Grandpa said, 'Eh, the chicken was dry,' and drifted back to sleep. He never regained consciousness and died the next day. Grandpa was a wonderful man, beloved by his family, but also a notorious complainer, so it made sense that those were his last words."
—anonymous
31."My mother had always been critical of me in all ways but softened quite a bit as she got older. After 70 years of smoking, she was on hospice, and it was apparent she would not be around much longer. I visited her for her 90th birthday, and as I was leaving, she said, 'Is that what you're wearing on the plane?' That was such a typical question, a critique of what I was wearing. I said yes, and she said, 'Well, there's a spot on it.' She was right! I changed shirts and came back, and she said how nice my shirt was, and she was so glad she got to see it! Repeatedly. I didn't realize that she was essentially saying that she was glad she got to see me wearing something she liked because she died while I was on the flight home. Her vision and mind were still completely intact, and that was my last interaction with her, which was classic mom."
—anonymous
32."I was sitting by my dad's bed on his final night. He hadn't opened his eyes or spoken for a couple of days when he suddenly opened his eyes, looked at me, and clearly said, 'There comes a day everyone has to die. There's nothing you can do about that. What you can do something about are all the days you have before that day.' He then closed his eyes and passed a few hours later."
—anonymous
33."We learned that my mom had lung cancer when she was only 57. It metastasized to her lymph nodes and then her bones. We were keeping her pumped full of morphine because the pain was so bad. On her last day, she woke up and said, 'Help me, help me...' Those were her final words. She didn't see heaven or her mom or Jesus. She didn't make a deathbed confession or say she loved us. She was a smoker. I'm not sayin' don't smoke, but don't smoke."
—anonymous
34."Our awesome, cool, amazing YiaYia had already been in home hospice care for a while and was on comfort care. She hadn't been very conscious for a few days, and during the hospice nurse shift change, the in and outgoing nurses were in her room, along with two of her daughters, chatting. YiaYia opened her eyes, observed everyone in the room, and said, 'What the fuck are all you people doing in my room?' to which the daughters essentially said 'Mom, it's us, and these are the nurses.' YiaYia then said, 'Oh yeah,' fell back asleep, and stayed that way until she passed two days later."
35."My mother had congestive heart failure. I was sitting with her, talking about the two cats we had when I was growing up and a state park we went to on vacation many times. As we talked, she became quiet and looked me straight into my eyes. Her last words to me were: 'You are a good boy.' She closed her eyes, never spoke again, and passed the next day. What a gift she left me!"
—anonymous