When a close friend's body was starting to fail from lung cancer (and it was clear that it was his final days), I think we were very lucky that we both enjoyed

When a close friend's body was starting to fail from lung cancer (and it was clear that it was his final days), I think we were very lucky that we both enjoyed video games. He was bedridden, slowly losing his motor functions, and it was hard to talk since breathing started to become difficult - but in a multiplayer video game with a controller and large buttons, he could be very expressive! There were goofy moments (where he would make his character wear something silly, and I'm pretty sure he was fishing for a reaction from me, too) or moments where I could see him emote through the in-game characters (like making a character's animation look like it's panicking by moving controls around arbitrarily, and you can see the video game character flail wildly). Through these actions I could see my friend's personality clearly, and I think being able to express yourself is important when you've been in the hospital for a while. I can only assume that he also found some joy from it as well, since it could have been difficult to express the same emotions when you're attached to machinery and often short of breath. I think it's important to connect with people using the time we have alive, and I really think anyone in palliative care (or knows someone in palliative care) could consider video games as another option for connecting with your friends and family. With the right game/accessibility of controls, and an appropriate level of energy/attention span, it could be something that brings people closer even as we hit our physical limits.