CAROLINA BEACH, N.C. — Ruth "Ellie" Duckette wanted to fulfill her last wish at Carolina Beach as she nears the end of a 20-year battle with breast cancer, the Wilmington Star-News reported.
Her last wish was to be at the beach with friends and family. including her 94-year-old mother. Ellie also had doughnuts from a famous local eatery while drinking sangria.
Ellie enjoyed the doughnuts and the drink common in Spain and Portugal.
Alcohol is just fine and wouldn't be denied to a hospice patient, her physician told the Star-News.
Paramedics also helped her dip her toes in the ocean for the final time.
"Oh, this is wonderful," Ellie said.
Ellie will spend her last days as a patient at the Lower Cape Fear Hospice Care Center in Wilmington.
She said that she isn't afraid to die.
"We are just such a speck of a speck. I don't take myself too seriously. How can you?" Ellie said in Friday's Star-News article. "God has a plan. I don't know what that plan is, but I'm not going to question it."
Her message is that life is beautiful and death can be beautiful too, especially when surrounded by loved ones.
"At the end of the day, it's about relationships," Ellie said. "Love your friends. Hug your friends.
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