Nothing to Fear

Demystifying Death to Live More Fully

By: Julie McFadden RN

Narrated by: Julie McFadden RN

Length: 9 hrs

Publisher's summary

A comforting and informative guide that demystifies our end-of-life journey, from the compassionate expert known as @hospicenursejulie

What if we didn’t consider death the worst possible outcome? What if we discussed it honestly, embraced hospice care, and prepared for the end of our lives with hope and acceptance?

In this compassionate and knowledgeable guide, TikTok star Julie McFadden—known online as “Hospice Nurse Julie”—shares the valuable lessons she’s learned in her fifteen years as an RN in the ICU and in hospice. Expertly interweaving emotional insight and practical advice, Nothing to Fear demystifies end-of-life care for both patients and caregivers, covering topics including:

• the biological details of dying
• which medical interventions help and which only make things worse
• the otherworldly beauty of deathbed phenomena
• financial and logistical preparations for death
• facts and myths about hospice care
• the most important conversations to have before you die
• the grieving process, before and after death

Sure to be a go-to resource for years to come, McFadden’s first book proves a better death goes hand in hand with a better life.

©2024 Julie McFadden (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“For those of you not planning on living forever, here’s the book for you. For so many reasons, we humans love to mystify death, shrouding the dying process and making it only more difficult to imagine and, in turn, more difficult to traverse. Nurse Julie has the prescription. Here you’ll find all sorts of practical information, from notes on morphine to how a body winds down, all wrapped in easy and clear language. If this sounds scary or grave, don’t worry. Nurse Julie will be right there with you, and she'll introduce you to some beautiful souls along the way.”
--BJ Miller, author of A Beginner’s Guide to the End

“There’s a reason we don’t like talking about death: it’s scary. It’s overwhelming. But just because we don’t like talking about it doesn’t mean we don’t have questions. Get the guidance and reassurance you need from someone who lives dying every single day -- Hospice Nurse Julie. Julie McFadden’s Nothing to Fear is the helpful, thoughtful, knowledgeable guide you deserve as you explore what it means to face the end.”
--Megan Devine, author of It’s OK That You’re Not OK

“Comforting and enlightening, pragmatic and fearless, Julie gives us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth to care for the people we most love when it matters most.”
--Steve Leder, New York Times bestselling author of The Beauty of What Remains and For You When I Am Gone

"This book is a wild and true gift to everyone who reads it. Hospice Nurse Julie guides us like a loving friend, into the very territory we are most afraid to venture: the end of life. But once there, she shows us the value of facing our own deaths, demystifies the dying process, and leaves us with the profound knowledge that life is precious and beautiful."
--Claire Bidwell Smith, author of Conscious Grieving