David Bowie’s Son Shares Moving Open Letter To His Father About Facing ‘Inevitable’ Death

Many people are still reeling from the sudden death of glam rock star David Bowie after a private 18-month battle with cancer. David Bowie’s son, Duncan Jones, announced that he’d be taking a break from social media following his father’s death.

Very sorry and sad to say it’s true. I’ll be offline for a while. Love to all. pic.twitter.com/Kh2fq3tf9m

— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) January 11, 2016

But Jones recently broke that silence to share a meaningful open letter with the world that David Bowie received from a doctor who was grateful for the artist’s honest approach to death.

A thank you letter to David Bowie from a palliative care doctor. https://t.co/ibFYRY8wc1 – thanks for sharing @DrMarkTaubert

— Marie Curie (@mariecurieuk) January 17, 2016

According to the Independent, David Bowie’s son posted the letter to his Twitter page, retweeting a post from the Marie Curie cancer charity. The letter came from Dr. Mark Taubert, a palliative doctor from Cardiff, who was willing to share the tribute to David Bowie with the world. In the heartfelt message, Taubert expresses gratitude toward David Bowie for facing his own death head-on in such a way that others close to the end of life can use his music to cope.

In addition to praising David Bowie for his legendary contributions to pop music, Dr. Taubert was especially moved by David Bowie’s last effort, Blackstar, an album released days before the singer’s death. Many have called the record David Bowie’s parting gift with the world. His emotionally charged video for the song “Lazarus” features images of David Bowie on his deathbed, literally performing through the final moments of his life. This raw and honest confrontation of mortality has been valuable to other people around the world who are close to the end, according to Dr. Taubert.

“I am a palliative care doctor, and what you have done in the time surrounding your death has had a profound effect on me and many people I work with… For me, the fact that your gentle death at home coincided so closely with the release of your album, with its good-bye message, in my mind is unlikely to be coincidence… The video of Lazarus is very deep and many of the scenes will mean different things to us all; for me it is about dealing with the past when you are faced with inevitable death.”

To see David Bowie in “Lazarus,” watch the video below.

Taubert also posthumously discussed palliative care with David Bowie, hoping that the care professionals who tended to the singer in his final days were making the right decisions to minimize his pain and emotional distress.

Most importantly, the doctor thanked the artist for helping one of his patients in particular come to terms with the same kind of inevitable death that David Bowie faced.

“At the beginning of that week I had a discussion with a hospital patient, facing the end of her life… In fact, your story became a way for us to communicate very openly about death… We both wondered who may have been around you when you took your last breath and whether anyone was holding your hand. I believe this was an aspect of the vision she had of her own dying moments that was of utmost importance to her, and you gave her a way of expressing this most personal longing to me, a relative stranger.”

To read the entire open letter to the late David Bowie, you can visit the blog page here.

For another tribute to David Bowie, read Mick Jagger’s final thoughts on the rock icon.

[Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images]