Bestselling Australian Author Sara Douglass Dies of Ovarian Cancer

Posted on September 26, 2011

Karen Brooks posted the sad news that Australian author Sarah Douglass died this morning at the age of 54. Sara died of ovarian cancer, at her home in Hobart, Tasmania. Here is the announcement from her official Facebook page:

It is Karen Brooks here. It is with the greatest sadness that I am writing to let you know that Sara Douglass Warneke died this morning at around 5am. The universe is a little darker today and I know you will share my unbelievable sorrow. She loved you all and I know you loved her in return and that love comforted her in her final days. xxxx

Sara wrote an absolutely amazing essay about dying and how our society doesn't know how to deal with death or those who are terminally ill. She always gave it to you straight. Here's a brief excerpt:

Let me discuss chronic illness for a moment. As a society we don't tolerate it very well. Our collective attention span for someone who is ill lasts about two weeks. After that they're on their own. From my own experience and talking to others with bad cancer or chronic illness, I've noticed a terrible trend. After a while, and only a relatively short while, people grow bored with you not getting any better and just drift off. Phone calls stop. Visits stop. Emails stop. People drop you off their Facebook news feed. Eyes glaze when you say you are still not feeling well. Who needs perpetual bad news?
*****
Just take a moment to think about this, take a moment to see if you have ever experienced it yourself. The dying -- sweet, stoic, silent -- comforting those who are to be left behind. I know I experienced it when first I was diagnosed with cancer. I found myself in the completely unreal situation of having, over and over, to comfort people when I told them I had cancer. In the end I just stopped telling people, because almost invariably I was placed into the bizarre situation of comforting the well by saying everything would be all right (which, of course, it won't, but that's what people needed to hear to make them comfortable about me again).

You can read the entire piece here. You can read our interview with Sara from 2003 here.

Rest in peace, Sara. You will be missed.