A few years ago Anne Emerson decided to visit her mom in Boston while on break from law school. One early morning during her stay they got a phone call. It was about her father … and the news wasn’t good. What happened next gave Anne a greater perspective on illness, abandonment, and the will to live. She shared her experience with partner Tom Gallagher at the Chicago StoryCorps booth.

ANNE: Everyone has something, that if they had to live without it, it wouldn’t be life anymore.

For her father, she said, it was losing his mental faculties after developing dementia. Anne already had abandonment issues with her dad from an early age.

ANNE: The only really big problem I have with his ‘method of exit’ if you will, is that… just when you think someone can’t find a new way to leave you… they do.

To find out how Anne grapples with her loss, listen to the audio above.

Meredith Zielke is a WBEZ producer.