A child's experience of imminent death.

We relate here the experiences and thoughts of a 7-year-old girl about her situation during the last three months of life as she lay dying of Ewing's sarcoma. Our experience with this girl--and that of other children in the same situation--indicates that they have a realistic and even confident view of death. Their anxiety is centred on the disease and how it affects their appearance and their activity. We most often underestimate children's capacity for understanding their own situation. We ought to be sensitive to appeals for contract.