NPR’s Scott Simon on Tweeting at a Death Bed

Scott Simon and his mother. Photo credit: NPR

NPR’s Scott Simon has an admirable bevy of followers on Twitter, with over 1 million people reading and re-tweeting the Weekend Edition Saturday host’s thoughts. So when Simon’s 84 year-old mother checked into a Chicago hospital last week, he began to tweet his experience of helping her pass away on her death bed – and his twitter-dome responded with no shortage of support and “admiration for his openness.”

“It led perfect strangers to tell Scott Simon that he had made them burst into tears,” states The Washington Post, “Which led readers to think about good deaths and good lives.”

Simon’s mother, Patricia Lyons Simon Newman, spent her final moments connecting with her son via the gracious but witty banter that she fostered in the talk-show host from a young age; “I can’t talk. I’m surrounded by handsome men,” was just one gem Simon tweeted from his mother. “Tnx for nice thoughts for my mother,” he later tweeted, “She’s in recovery now, wheezing jokes through oxygen tube! Inspiration in aspiration!”

“I can’t talk. I’m surrounded by handsome men,” was just one gem Simon tweeted from his mother.

Friends and followers tweeted their love and support with messages like “I haven’t held my mother’s hand in a long time, thank you for reminding me that time is fleeting and that i need to do this” and “I missed my 102 yo grandma’s passing by 15 mins. My heart aches for you and your loss. Surround yourself with love.” Simon’s mother passed away on July 29th.

Friends and followers tweeted their love and support with messages like “I haven’t held my mother’s hand in a long time, thank you for reminding me that time is fleeting and that i need to do this”

Simon’s twitter stream offered a remarkable, touching window into one man’s relationship with his mother; an intimate end-of-life dialogue made visible for the world. Writer and NPR guest Tim Siedell summed up the experience best, saying it was “heartbreaking, uplifting, human. Twitter has never been better.”

Read a collection of the tweets here

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• The Site “See Your Folks” Reminds Us to Spend Time with Parents
• TIME’s Joe Klein Talks End-of-Life Care in His Article “The Long Goodbye”
• “I Am Breathing”: A Man’s Battle Against Motor Neurone Disease