Legacy MattersI think this is so horrifying because it seems to be counter to all instinctual tendencies, much less spiritual or religious ones.
Cancer mother - given six months to live - kills 5-year-old son before taking her own life.
The father of the boy is grief-stricken. A friend said, "She adored Lewis and I guess she didn't want to be apart from him - even in death. I think that's why she did it."
To me it seems the ultimate in selfishness and confusion, a sad tale of dying woman who couldn't think straight.
It seems to be an affliction of the times when some women see their children not as persons but as extensions of themselves.
Remember the story about the world's oldest mother who gave birth to twins a week short of her 67th birthday. She lied about her age to get IVF treatment because she always wanted children even though she had never married. She choose the donors of eggs and sperm from a catalogue and paid the estimated $40,000 by selling her flat in Spain. She's been struck down with cancer.
UPDATE: Apparently the woman who killed her five-year-old did not have cancer. Said Detective Chief Inspector
"We would like to clarify on behalf of the families that Emma had not been diagnosed with cancer and therefore was not receiving treatment.
"We do not know, and will never know, why Emma said she had the disease.