The final journey: A terminally ill cancer patient's nearly 2-year trek down the Mississippi River

Kelly Phillips was going to die. That much was certain.

The question was when.

As the terminally ill cancer patient lay in bed, contemplating the few short months his doctors said he had left, he knew that this business of dying would not take place in hospice care in New Jersey.

He would spend his final days on the brackish waves of the Mississippi River -- free.

Phillips said he called his brother who lives in Wisconsin and asked him if he could find him a houseboat on the Mississippi. He bought the boat from his hospice bed, packed up his belongings, his dog Sapphire and flew out to Wisconsin to spend his last days aboard his boat, the “Shameless.”

The journey entailed traveling down a river that extends over 2,000 miles and across 10 states with zero sailing experience and only $214 in his pocket with his dog at his side.

“I didn’t do anything to prepare,” Phillips said. “I learned as I went.”

That was 20 months ago now and Phillips has made it to his final destination, Venice, Louisiana.



https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/final-journey-terminally-ill-cancer-patients-year-trek/story?id=60555249