John Keats

One of my favourite stories of suffering is that of the poet John Keats. Fatefully destined for a life of romance, but also of misfortune and tragedy. His struggles at the end of his life capture the beauty and chaotic path of human life. After suffering and being witness to the death of his mother and his brother by tuberculosis, he also ends up contracting the deadly disease. In the time that follows he carries along in what he considers a posthumous existence. His once vibrant dreams and aspirations shrouded by the misery of his terminal illness. His only company is Joseph Severn. A painter who accompanied Keats to Rome on his final push to regain his health and strength. Although at one point diagnosed as purely an anxious illness, when Keats begins coughing up pints of blood - he knows his time has come. He suffers terribly in his final months and is further driven mad by the loss of his love Fanny Brawne and his rising career as one of the great English poets. He dies at the age of 26.