Clara went to Bethel with her mom Agnes Owletuck so she could get a check up at the Yukon Kuskokwim Regional Hospital. She says that her mom was throwing up and getting dehydrated. She also had an infection on her hip from the surgery she had in February. While they were there they found out Clara's mom had cancer in her liver. That was what was causing the vomiting. She had IV treatments to give her fluid and the doctors reopened her surgery site to extract the puss from the infection. Then her doctor decided to send her to Anchorage to see what was the best way to handle her many health problems.

They were in Anchorage for another week, and while they were there the doctors found that Agnes had gall stones and liver cancer, and the infection in her hip was more extensive than the doctors thought in Bethel. The only way to deal with the gall stones was to have surgery, but because of Agnes' weak heart and cancer the doctors decided not to operate. They told her mom and Clara that they couldn't help her with her problems. The only way they could help her was to make her comfortable by giving her pain medication. They showed Clara how to give her mom the medication, how to clean her wound on her hip and also how to change her bed sheets while she was still on the bed because she was bed ridden.

After she learned all this stuff they came home. Clara took care of her for one week and two days and then she passed away on July 5 at 10:53 p.m. She went peacefully. It was really hard for Clara to watch her mom slowly die. It's still hard to think about it or even talk about it. Nothing hurts as hard as watching someone you love die slowly, suffering pain, and then also knowing you wouldn't ever be able to laugh, cry, joke around with, confide in or ask advice from her anymore. Sometimes Clara feels like her life has broken into little pieces so small that it can never be put together again. Sometimes, though, she feels relieved that her mom s pain is no more, and that eases her mind a little. There is also some happiness knowing Agnes is in heaven with her eldest son Arthur, her third son Michael, her sister Anna, and all the others who have passed on. There's also the hope that one day they'll all be together again where there's no more pain, no more tears, no more hate, no wars, and only LOVE.

After the funeral she started to cut fish, pick blue berries, and simply be with her family to support and try to comfort each other.

By: Clara Shorty

Interviewed by: Tatiana Sergie