"I was standing by myself on a pavement in a city that was being bombed with sort of metaphorical tumbleweed rolling down the street there wasn't a soul to be seen. And I stood there thinking, I have no idea what to do," she says. "The idea that I would never ever see my children again was crippling it made I remember the feeling almost sick with that fear."
Ian Sample talks to Dr Rachel Clarke about her experience working in palliative care in the NHS and now with hospices in Ukraine. She tells him what dying can teach the living, what we can learn from the Covid pandemic, and reveals the anguish and defiance of trying to provide a dignified death in the midst of war. Help support our independent journalism at
theguardian.com/sciencepod