VOICES- Mortality as Medicine: Amy Banks, M.D. & Nancy Banks P.H.D.

Into the Ether: Life, Death and the Illusion of Choice

Kate Banks, renowned children’s book author, “chose” to end her life by voluntary assisted death on February 24, 2024 after a two year odyssey with stage 4 neuroendocrine cancer. Kate hoped that her life experience could be used to help people talk about death, not only the grief of losing a loved one but also the inevitability we all share in leaving our physical bodies. She believed, at her core, that death was an extension of life, a transition that all living beings experience.

During Kate’s battle with cancer, she began writing poetry seriously. As she described her creative process, she was literally channeling universal energies and wisdom onto the page. In stunning detail and profound prose, she wrote of pivotal moments in her own life that shaped her earthly mind and body. Her book of poetry, Into the Ether, published posthumously in October 2024, invites readers to consider that death is not the end but rather one point on a soul’s ongoing growth journey. Join Kate’s sisters, Amy Banks MD, psychiatrist, author, teacher and Nancy Banks PHD, historian and teacher, as they share the life, death and wisdom of Kate Banks, a prolific children’s book author, energy healer, wife, mother, sister, daughter, aunt… and poet.