Charity Tillemann-Dick shares the harrowing story of living between life and death

Health TEDx

At TEDMED 2010, opera singer Charity Tillemann-Dick told the story of a revolutionary, life-changing surgery — a double lung transplant. While a doctor had warned her that she would never sing again, Charity Tillemann-Dick: Singing after a double lung transplantshe revealed what it felt like to get her voice back. “We need to stop letting disease divorce us from our dreams,” she said.

Now, three years after her first transplant (she has since had another), Tillemann-Dick has given a second talk, “Discourses from the undead,” filmed at TEDxMidAtlantic in December. In the talk above, she takes a stark look at death. sharing the vivid dreams that she had while she was in an unconscious state after her surgery — a time when her doctor said that survival was unlikely. Having “spent many a night in death’s guesthouse,” Tillemann-Dick  shares meaningful lessons that she believes to be from the next world, and gives thanks.

“While [death’s] sting is real, good can come from it,” she says. “Death is as much a part of life as love, birth and happiness.”

Far too few people are organ donors, and Tillemann-Dick attributes this not to disregard but to our lack of conversation about death. She says it’s time to talk about death. Will you join her?

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Moving forward: TEDxTokyo shares their story

Via the TEDx Blog:

Patrick Newell, organizer of TEDxTokyo, has been collecting and sharing news from TEDx communities affected by the recent tragic events in Japan. He sends this report:

The effects of the earthquake that struck the Tohoko region of Japan on Friday, March 11, has had an impact all around the world.

Here in Tokyo, thousands were stranded as transport systems came to a sudden halt. A shortage of water, food, fuel and electricity continue to cause anxiety, while uncertainty over the situation at the Fukushima nuclear plant has led to health concerns for millions across the east of the country. In the hardest hit areas, over 20,000 people are dead or missing, and hundreds of thousands are now living in shelters.

Whilst many upcoming events in the region have subsequently been cancelled, the TEDxTokyo community feels more determined than ever to hold our big annual event as originally planned on May 21. In times of crisis, there is no understating the importance of sharing ideas, solutions and stories of human resilience and unity. TEDxTokyo will enable this to take place against the background of the huge upheaval we are now seeing.

Beyond our event itself, the TEDxTokyo community are working reactively and proactively to help those in the Tohoku region, through the establishment of a reconstruction planning team, partnership to provide immediate support for existing orphanages, children who have lost their parents, a disaster relief supply center at a local international school, and through personal donations of money, goods and time to local relief organizations.

To find out more about these efforts please read this post on the TEDxTokyo blog.

Please join us and share your stories of ways in which the situation in Japan has influenced your local communities. Post stories on our Facebook page or email stories@tedxtokyo.com.

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