5The battle of arriving mortality is experienced by each of us during our lifetime. For some it is a ferocious fight filled with fear and intensity, and for others it is a time of seeking peace as the new future beyond human knowledge arrives. For everyone, however, it requires our complete attention as we are swept up by the forces over which we often have little control. This book takes the reader to that battlefront, and through the physician's eyes, allows a better understanding of how patients may improve the circumstances that would otherwise seem inevitable. Surviving Mortality is a primer on survival as these patients fight the greatest battles of their lives.