It can be a moment that stops families in their tracks. A loved one who has spent weeks fading eating, little, barely speaking, drifting in and out of sleep, suddenly seems almost themselves again. They sit up, smile, ask for their favourite meal, perhaps even make a joke. Relief fills the room. “They’re getting better,” someone whispers hopefully. But within hours or days, the person slips away. This bittersweet moment, described by many who have witnessed death up close, has a name: terminal lucidity, a short-lived return of clarity, energy and awareness that appears just before death. Though it can feel like a miracle, experts say it is not a recovery, but rather a part of the dying process itself. Hospice nurse Julie McFadden, a 42-year-old from California, has seen this countle

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