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Journalist Beate Lakotta and photographer Walter Schels sought and gained permission from 24 terminally ill people to accompany them during their last days. From this intimate contact came a series of insightful narratives and photographic portraits taken before and after death. Far from being gloomy, these intimate concerns of the dying reveal the preciousness and transience of life, and make us question what we often take for granted. These images are taken from the Wellcome Collection Life Before Death exhibition - see details below - and are currently displayed on the BBC news website and other web sites. The Wellcome Collection is also hosting a series of talks with Beate Lakotta , Walter Schels and others on the subject of living with dying and death . They're all scared' Heiner Schmitz, 52, realised he had little time left when he was shown a scan of his brain. "No one asks me how I feel", he said. "Because they're all shit scared. I find it really upsetting the way they desperately avoid the subject, talking about all sorts of other things. Don't they get it? I'm going to die!" First portrait taken: 19 November 2003, died 14 December 2003. 
A test of maturity Edelgard Clavey, 67, said: "Death is a test of one's maturity. I've always worked hard, following a similar path to a nun: poverty, chastity, obedience. Now, I am no longer able to contribute anything to society and this pains me terribly." First picture taken: 5 December 2003, died 4 January 2004. 
A mother's fight Jannik Boehmfeld was just four when doctors detected a rare type of brain tumour. Four months later his mother, Silke was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was determined to stay strong for the sake of Jannik and his little brother Niklas, but her prognosis was bleak. She survived her son, who died at the age of six, by just 25 days. First picture taken: 10 January 2004, died 11 January 2004. 
Pain relief problem Elly Genthe, 83, needed morphine to combat the pain of cancer, but because her kidneys were ravaged by disease the effect of the drug on her body was difficult to predict.Until the latter stages of her illness she had been a tough, resilient woman who had always managed on her own. But towards the end she found herself wishing death could come quickly. First picture taken: 31 December 2002, died 11 January 2003. 
Spiritual guru Maria Hai-Anh Tuyet Cao, 52, relied on the teachings of her spiritual guru, Supreme Mistress Ching Hai, during her final illness. "Death is nothing," she said. "I embrace death. It is not eternal. Afterwards, when we meet God, we become beautiful." First picture taken: 5 December 2003, died 15 February 2004. 
Robbed of retirement Gerda Strech, 68, could not believe that cancer was cheating her of her hard-earned retirement. She was employed on the assembly line in a soap factory, and brought up her children single-handedly. "My whole life was nothing but work, work, work," she said. "Does it really have to happen now? Can't death wait?" First picture taken: 5 January 2003, died 13 January 2003. Life Before Death, 9 April-18 May 2008the Wellcome Collection 183 Euston Road
London
NW1 2BE
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