Kate Dietrick, 42, Shops for Gravesite While Living With Stage 4 Breast Cancer
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jun 12
Kate Dietrick, 42, Shops for Gravesite While Living With Stage 4 Breast Cancer
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 12
Summary
42-year-old Kate Dietrick spent a morning shopping for a gravesite as she lives with Stage 4 breast cancer nearly four years after her diagnosis.
Stage 4 disease has made her life feel partly chronic and partly terminal, she says, with death close enough that burial plans now feel practical rather than abstract.
A cemetery tied to the synagogue she joined after converting to Judaism in 2021 appealed to her, but the prospect of being buried alone still troubled her.
Five years has become her near-term goal — enough time for a 10th wedding anniversary cruise, her niece’s eighth birthday and, she hopes, another Taylor Swift album.