Graphic Medicine•

The endpapers of this small book list prayers: “Prayer for the ransoming of time; Prayer to be cared for; Prayer to accept care; Prayer to accept not being in control; Prayer for making deals; Prayer for a reunion; Prayer for help in the struggle with faith; Prayer on beginning whatever will happen next; Prayer to create prayer when I never prayed before…” During the year after her mother’s death, artist and essayist Judith Cohen Margolis rented a studio where she painted from sketches and photos she’d taken during the course of her mother’s long illness. This activity became her way of mourning, of “saying Kaddish.” Eventually, ten years later, she created a small meditative book for herself. She called it “Life Support: Invitation to Prayer,” now the title of a new volume intended to inspire or comfort others on the journey of attending loved ones’ dying. From Pennsylvania State University Press.