Andrew LLoyd Webber’s son Nicholas in hospice amid ‘ghastly’ cancer battle.

My heart goes out!

This picture got me:

Why would he put him in a hospice if he's got more money than God? ALW can hire an entire medical staff to look after his son at one of his vast country estates. He clearly wants him hidden out of his way.

Well, if it's ghastly, then it must be bad.

This is such sad, sad news.

To top it off, ALW's new Broadway musical 'Bad Cinderella' has gotten panned across the board.

Not a good week for the guy who just turned 75.

It's not up to Andrew to make unilateral decisions about his grown son's healthcare. If Nicholas is in a hospice facility rather than at a family home, that's presumably what he chose for himself. Or maybe he's elsewhere and his father's trying to throw tabloids off the scent.

Went down a brief rabbit hole on Wikipedia and found out this about Andrew that I hadn't known:

He was made a Conservative life peer in 1997. In October 2015, Lloyd Webber was involved in a contentious House of Lords vote over proposed cuts to tax credits, voting with the Government in favour of the plan. Lloyd Webber was denounced by his critics because he flew in from abroad on his personal plane to vote, when his voting record was scant.

Asshole.

Webber and Tim Rice are both long-time conservatives.

That poor little homosexual boy!

His son is gay?

R3, clearly you don’t know what hospice care is or means.

I think people literally confuse "hospice" and "hostel". Hospice is not a physical location dumbass.

Hospice is normally a physical location in the UK, one that specialises in end of life care.

Every time someone posts the full article text so we don't visit a Rupert Murdoch media property, an angel gets its wings

I'm British and I'd much rather be in a hospice than anywhere else if I were going to die anyway. At least you get the nice drugs and professional care.

In all seriousness though, what causes stomach cancer at an age like that? Genes and/or something to do with the environment?

Hospice, a primer

Nick Webber has been dealing with gastric cancer for almost two years. He was admitted to hospital (rather hospice) due to coming down with pneumonia.

It seems instead of being admitted to hospital a decision was made to choose hospice care instead. This likely points to Mr. Webber's cancer being considered terminal and treatment of pneumonia won't be heroic as otherwise might be otherwise. That is the infection is being treated but as often case with mortal illnesses it is something else that finally carries one off.

R12–You are wrong. Hospice is an umbrella term for end-of-life, palliative care.

There are physical hospice facilities where a dying patient can get the comfort care needed.

But, hospice can also take place at home, or in a regular hospital.

In simple terms it means that you are going to die, and you will no longer receive treatment (chemo, for example)…only pain medication.

Not an ALW fan, but this must be fucking horrific for the whole family, most certainly the poor fucking son waiting for the Grim Reaper. to cruise on by. I hope he is loaded with drugs to the gills.

Probably the wrong time to mention this, but I fucking LOVE the term "ghastly".

But if his son is in hospice care (wherever that’s happening), why does ALW talk about his son “bravely fighting” and “battling away”?

I’m pretty sure that being in hospice is meant to be the antithesis of battling and struggling; if you are a candidate for hospice then it’s time to stop fighting and, with proper support and effective medication, live out your remaining days in as much peace and comfort as possible.

On a more general note, why are we expected to be so brave and valiant when we’re ill. If I’m sick, isn’t it ok for me to be just miserable and crabby and pessimistic? I hate how sick people are always made out to be heroic. Is that unique to Americans?

I worked in a Hospice Center for about a year (not as a healthcare worker, as an admin assistant). You have to have a certain personality to work in such an atmosphere, otherwise you won't last long (I left after a year when our place merged with another in the state, and they laid off most of the admin workers in our location).

Hospice is a place where you don't go to 'be cured' or 'get well' - it's palative care, which means it is only 'comfort' for what doctors see as 'end of life'. Where I worked, patients were kept a total of 10 days max. If they didn't pass away, they were sent back home (and could continue receiving hospice care with home-healthcare workers) or back to the hospital. They could go back and forth as such for as long as they wanted / needed. (One elderly woman with cancer was on Hospice for just over 10 years before she died). So for this young man, death can be right around the corner - or years away. The bottom line is he doesn't want to go for treatment any longer.

He died

ALW has more money than God thanks to Cats.

Well all the money in the world isn’t going to bring his son back

That was fast.

I'm surprised Jimmy Carter is still hanging on after entering hospice care a month ago.

R17 cracked it then.

Nick Webber's pneumonia infection is what caused his demise, not gastric cancer per se.

Once you're weakened with one terminal illness or disease it isn't uncommon for comorbidities to pop up.

If Nick Webber had been an otherwise healthy man or his cancer perhaps not so advanced the pneumonia infection would perhaps had more heroic treatment in hospital. Doctors, NW and his family knew or strongly felt that (if can put it this way) this lung infection probably would hasten something already happening, process of death.

Note previous announcements stated NW had been battling pneumonia before being admitted to hospice. This tells one wherever NW was previously (at home or wherever) level of care required to make him comfortable and cope with infection couldn't be done there, so he was moved to hospice.

Finally pneumonia is a common infection of those either already ill with certain diseases and or some way weakened. One reason nursing staff will get patients up and out of bed soon as possible after surgery is to ward off pneumonia. This and even "bed ridden" patients if at all possible if cannot get up and go for short walks at least sat up in a chair or something.

So sad. No parent should ever have to bury their own child.

*RIP*