Elizabeth Percival
I am writing this to recommend Marc Malamud for a scholarship for your End Of Life Doula Training. He recently organized and produced a Celebration of the Life for my dear brother (who has a progressive lung disease) that one of my sisters and I created. His technical skills and suggestions were wonderful and helped make the day all that we hoped it would be and more. His sensitivity to the mental and emotional states of all involved, his deep understanding of the various places people in such situations find themselves made the creation of this event that was so important to us go beautifully.
He shared with me that he had created many of these kinds of celebrations, mostly for those already deceased during COVID, giving him an interest in and experiences he can bring to this special training.
I hope you will give him this scholarship as I believe he will be a great End of Life Doula. Thank you for the work that you all do. I call End of Life "the other door". It's a privilege to be there for people at that time.
Laurie Oates
Marc helped my sister and me create a zoom celebration for my brother Peter. He is in a late stage of Pulmonary Fibrosis, and we decided we wanted to create a gathering where he could meet with and celebrate memories and relationships with family, friends, and coworkers he has had in his 83 years.
Marc was able to provide all the technical support needed to pull this zoom gathering off. Along with that he also created a video of my brother’s life from photos several people sent him. He sent out farms that allowed anyone who wanted to send photos or messages to be able to do so. He also recorded the gathering and uploaded the video and the recording of the meeting onto a YouTube channel. None of these wonderful things would have been possible without his knowledge, patience, understanding and kindness.
It was clear that Marc brought a respect and understanding of what my family and my brother are going through and he met us in a lovely, helpful, and compassionate way.
I believe Marc brings some very special qualities to his desire to become an End-of-Life Doula and I heartfeltly support him and hope you will consider helping him participate in this training.
Respectfully
Laurie Percival Oates
