DEATH IS BUT A DREAM

Have you ever wondered what you will see or dream when your death nears?
As a palliative care doctor, Christopher Kerr tends to the dying. Thousands of his patientsa - a full eighty percent - experience vivid, realer-than-life visions or dreams in end stages of illness.

For most, these vignettes provide resolution to unsettled issues and feature reunions with cherished loved ones long passed, allowing the dying to find peace and meaning in the days leading up to their last breath. Such transformative visions are far from signs of oxygen depletion or pharmaceutical side effects. The medical establishment traditionally treats death as purely a clinical cessation of life, but the final passage is rife with humanity and transcendence.

Historical accounts of pre-death dreams date back to ancient Greece, spanning religions and cultures, yet science is just beginning to acknowledge and study their prevalence and significance. Dreams of the Dying: Hope and Meaning Beyond Cure by Christopher Kerr, MD, is the first book to chronicle this widespread occurrence, drawing on interviews with over 1,200 patients, as well as Dr. Kerr's groundbreaking, quantified data that he has amassed over the last 12 years. Written in a style that satisfies the same appetite readers have shown for Being Mortal, How We Die, and When Breath Becomes Air, Dreams of the Dying grounds poignant stories of finding hope before death within the framework of modern medicine, illuminating the ways in which personalized palliative care practices can serve to comfort patients and their families. At its heart, the book celebrates the power to reclaim how one dies, while soothing the bereaved who witness their loved ones go with unqualified grace.

Dr. Kerr has been a hospice physician for nearly twenty years and currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer for Hospice and Palliative Care in Buffalo, New York, one of the largest hospice-provided palliative care networks in the country. With an MD and PhD in Neurobiology, Dr. Kerr was the first physician in the nation to recognize the value and importance of documenting the dreams of dying patients. His research has since been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, and Psychology Today, as well as a host of medical journals, and is the subject of his TEDX Buffalo Talk, which has more than half a million views. Dr. Kerr's findings are the focus of an upcoming documentary titled Death is But a Dream, slated to be released in tandem with the publication of the book. A teaser received over 600,000 views on Facebook within its first week of posting. A gifted orator, Dr. Kerr regularly receives invitations from universities and healthcare organizations across the country. He is also an active member of an array of professional associations through which he can promote the book. His extensive media and professional contacts will allow Dr. Kerr to leverage his growing recognition in the public eye to help ensure his book's success.