Working in end-of-life care can be filled with moments of profound sadness, but also ones of quiet wonder. One hospice nurse has shared an experience she’s witnessed time and again in her work with the dying: a simple yet mysterious gesture many patients make just before they pass.
Katie Duncan, a nurse practitioner and “death care coach” from Maryland, has spent years helping people find peace and dignity at the end of their lives. With experience across intensive care units, home hospices, and long-term care settings, she’s observed a pattern she finds both inexplicable and deeply moving.
In a recent TikTok video, Katie described what she calls one of the “mystical” parts of the dying process: many patients begin reaching upwards, as if trying to grasp something unseen above them.
“In my experience, it’s very common,” she said in the video. “You’ll literally see someone reach up, like they’re trying to hold someone’s hand or touch something in the air.”
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