The art of saying goodbye: Isabel Stenzel Byrnes at TEDxStanford

Isabel Stenzel Byrnes is a bereavement social worker at Sutter Care at Home and Mission Hospice, and holds master of social work and master of public health degrees. She has lived with cystic fibrosis for 42 years and received a double-lung transplant 10 years ago at Stanford Hospital. She describes her illness journey as an invitation for opportunities to serve as an international patient advocate and to lecture on topics such as living well with illness, end-of-life issues and organ donation. Together with her twin sister, Anabel, she published the memoir The Power of Two, which inspired the creation of a documentary film of the same title. For fun, she plays the bagpipes to celebrate her lung donor. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)