Father Daniel Beegan Receives Misdiagnosis and Plans His Funeral

Imagine being told that you only have five years to live.

That is exactly what happened to Father Daniel Beegan, a 58-year-old priest with the Catholic Charismatic Church in Maine.

A few months ago, a respiratory therapist told Father Daniel that he was going to die in five years.

"After some tests and a sleep study, in a telephone conversation one of the respiratory therapists blurted out that my life span was five years. That information rocked me. I'll admit I was not compliant with the equipment. I figured if I'm going to go, I'm going to go. Why prolong it?"

Upon receiving the news, Father Daniel started to plan his funeral.

"When I got the information on my life span, the most pressing issue was my funeral and what I wanted. I knew the independent funeral home that I would use here in town. And, I also got a musician lined up. I wanted traditional Celtic music. I was getting prepared. I had my attorney and friend in mind to speak at the funeral. I planned to be cremated and have the cremains buried."

A couple of weeks ago, Father Daniel was told that the limited life span of five years was misinformation.

"I flat out asked my primary care physician. I said this is the information I received, is this true, do I really have five years to live? He started laughing and said, 'No. Ten years ago that would have been valid information but it's totally out of date now. I expect to be caring for you for a long, long time.' I had an appointment with the other doctor the next day. She has really worked hard to work on her Indian accent, but she got so nail splitting mad that it all came back. 'I'm telling you that you can live however long you want. It's the good Lord that tells us when we die, not some stupid respiratory therapist.' That doctor went on to fire the company that gave me the bad information."

Now, Father Daniel is rather pleased with a new lease on life.

"My funeral plan still stands. No sense changing them. My musician friend is in her 50s and in great shape and can still perform. Hopefully, she'll outlive me."

Despite the more positive outlook, Father Daniel still advises people to make their funeral plans.

"I don't want to have a funeral that I would detest, so planning a funeral is helpful for people to do. Secondly, people should get their affairs in order and organize a will. I'd already done that and was fairly organized. Most importantly, I'd have to tell people to ask questions of your doctor and get second opinions to medical diagnoses. The big lesson from my doctor was to be wary of ancillary medical personnel overstepping their bounds. Instead of agonizing over it, ask more questions," Father Daniel reminded. "No matter what, I've always felt that every day was a gift. Now, a lot of pressure has been taken off. I'm not trying to counsel people on one hand, and on the other hand I wonder if this is the last session I'm going to have with this person. Overall, it was a pretty horrible experience. I do want to know if I have an illness that has a definite life span, but this was misinformation. I don't care to live to be old and senile, but as long as I've got my wits about me I'd rather stay on this side of the sod. A few more years, anyway. There's a lot more living to do."

Father Daniel has set some new goals after receiving better medical information about his health.

"I'm planning to make a trip to Ireland and visit family in the next year. I've never been to the north of Ireland and so that would be nice to get over there and visit Belfast. Funerals are still things we should all think about. Eventually, we're all going to die." Father Daniel added with a laugh, "The two certainties in life are death and taxes; especially taxes as we're nearing the filing deadline in the United States!"

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