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Professor speaks on dying

December 10, 2009

Tuesday night was an eye-opening experience for hundreds of psychology students as they heard Dr. Daryl Pitts speak of his experience coping with the dying process.

A professor of psychology at Liberty and Counseling Pastor at Thomas Road Baptist Church, Dr. Pitts has been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. Also called ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease is a slow decaying of the muscles. As the muscles cease to work, simple tasks like dressing and bathing become impossible. Eventually, failure of the chest muscles causes difficulty breathing and death.

Dr. Pitts led the students through the process of coping with death and explained the psychological stages he has experienced. After being diagnosed two years ago, Pitts has gone through the difficult stages of denial, anger, bitterness and bargaining with God. Sharing verses to go with each stage of coping, Pitts encouraged students to comfort those dealing with similar situations.

Despite the tragedy of Dr. Pitt's story, one thing that students remembered about the night was his humor. “I thought that he was definitely using humor to cope,” said Cort Comfort, a student who attended.

Dr. Pitts concluded by expressing that although his life was uncertain, God was his strength and he would continue living for the Lord until the end of his days.

“I really enjoyed myself,” says Joey Tantomonico, a freshman psychology major. “Dr. Pitts gave some good applications, had some humor and taught me to really care for the people I love because life is short.”

 Jane Marczewski

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