# Instances where a character with a terminal illness is still alive at the end (SPOILERS LIKELY) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 17, 2018, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-where-a-character-with-a-terminal-illness-is-still-alive-at-the-end-spoilers-likely/821500 "2018-09-17T21:46:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-where-a-character-with-a-terminal-illness-is-still-alive-at-the-end-spoilers-likely/821500/21 "2018-09-18T14:46:47Z")
> [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](#): > > Creed features an enfeebled, cancer-stricken Rocky Balboa, who is declining treatment. As you would expect only in this thread, Rocky does not die. The film ends with Rocky doing a blistering training run up the “Rocky steps” in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Okay, it’s more of a hobble. And Rocky’s getting help from Creed. But he’s heading up those steps at least one more time. Sequel possibilities in which Rocky recovers the heavyweight championship are not yet fully eliminated. > > (I recommend Creed if you haven’t seen it.) Evidence that Rocky survived the events of _Creed_, if not quite up to fight for the championship once again: (I also recommend _Creed_ – it’s a really good movie.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-where-a-character-with-a-terminal-illness-is-still-alive-at-the-end-spoilers-likely/821500/22 "2018-09-18T15:01:06Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > As the TV series _St. Elsewhere_ began, Dr. Daniel Auschlander (Norman Lloyd) had been diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer, with a very poor prognosis. Over the course of the series, his cancer went into remission, and the character survived through all six seasons of the series. > > In [the well-known series finale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elsewhere#%22The_Last_One%22), Auschlander dies – but from a stroke, not cancer. However, when the final scene of the episode suggests that all of the events seen in the series have been in the imagination of Tommy Westphall (the autistic son of Dr. Donald Westphall), Auschlander is shown to be alive, and is apparently Tommy’s grandfather. As a side note, Norman Lloyd is still alive at the age of 103. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-where-a-character-with-a-terminal-illness-is-still-alive-at-the-end-spoilers-likely/821500/23 "2018-09-18T15:35:52Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > As a side note, Norman Lloyd is still alive at the age of 103. and he’s still acting too. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-where-a-character-with-a-terminal-illness-is-still-alive-at-the-end-spoilers-likely/821500/24 "2018-09-18T22:41:07Z")
Haven’t read the book, but in the movie _The Fault in Our Stars_ one of the two main characters is alive at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-where-a-character-with-a-terminal-illness-is-still-alive-at-the-end-spoilers-likely/821500/25 "2018-09-18T23:32:31Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > We don’t see Walter die at the end of Breaking Bad. 😕 Pretty sure he dies from remote machine guy fire he set up himself. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2018, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-where-a-character-with-a-terminal-illness-is-still-alive-at-the-end-spoilers-likely/821500/26 "2018-09-19T00:00:14Z")
Short Time starring Dabney Coleman: > [@](#): > > Seattle detective Burt Simpson (Coleman) is a man who is so concerned about planning for the future that he cannot enjoy the present. This strains his relationship with his wife Carolyn (Teri Garr) and young son Dougie. However, this is to change when **a mix-up at the hospital (caused by a bus driver who is trying to hide his recent use of marijuana) makes him believe that he has two weeks to live**. Finding out that his family will only receive a small amount of money if he dies of natural causes, but will receive hundreds of thousands if he is killed in the line of duty, he determines to find a way to make that happen. > **[Short Time](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Time)** > > Short Time is a 1990 American action comedy film directed by Gregg Champion. It stars Dabney Coleman, Matt Frewer and Teri Garr. > Seattle detective Burt Simpson (Dabney Coleman), 8 days from retirement, is so concerned about planning for the future that he doesn't appreciate the present. He is especially obsessed with ensuring financial support to allow his young son Dougie (Kaj-Erik Eriksen) to one day attend Harvard. Burt's aversion to risk hinders his police work and has strained his relations... ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2018, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-where-a-character-with-a-terminal-illness-is-still-alive-at-the-end-spoilers-likely/821500/27 "2018-09-19T00:11:01Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > Haven’t read the book, but in the movie _The Fault in Our Stars_ one of the two main characters is alive at the end. It’s a fliparoo I think. The one who is terminal lives and the one who isn’t dies. Been awhile, though. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2018, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-where-a-character-with-a-terminal-illness-is-still-alive-at-the-end-spoilers-likely/821500/28 "2018-09-19T01:07:30Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > 😕 Pretty sure he dies from remote machine guy fire he set up himself. Acute lead poisoning. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2018, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-where-a-character-with-a-terminal-illness-is-still-alive-at-the-end-spoilers-likely/821500/29 "2018-09-20T23:45:27Z")
As per the meme, Scotty shrugged off seemingly-fatal doses of red-shirtedness. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-where-a-character-with-a-terminal-illness-is-still-alive-at-the-end-spoilers-likely/821500/30 "2018-09-21T00:10:59Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > As per the meme, Scotty shrugged off seemingly-fatal doses of red-shirtedness. Yet, in keeping with the meme, in one episode (_The Changling_), he did in fact die. (Nomad brought him back after killing him.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-where-a-character-with-a-terminal-illness-is-still-alive-at-the-end-spoilers-likely/821500.md?page=1)