Patients with terminal phase cancer - an existential phenomenological view

The aim of this study was to identify and understand, from the existential phenomenology, the events and changes in the being of people with cancer in terminal phase. A qualitative method, by in-depth interviews, was applied,. Three women and a man, all of them patients at the Instituto Cancerológico of Medellín, were involved in the research. It was found that these people are confronted with death, leading them to become aware of feelings of abandonment, fear, helplessness and solitude. This situation allows changes in the being of these people, as evidenced by the reconstruction of the meaning and sense of its life, and also by generating changes in the relationship with people, and in attitudes toward religion, values, beliefs and creative acts; finally, reconfiguring their choice, decision and responsibility with respect to their existence.