Kintsugi Heroes
Jill Nash · 50 min
At 86, Jill Nash has buried a child, a husband, and decades of suppressed grief — and turned every loss into a crusade for dignified dying and connected ageing.
You don't have to be in crisis to call.
At 86, Jill Nash has lived through the kind of losses that break families. She buried her infant daughter, who died after a year of suffering from meningitis complications. She buried her husband, who chose to disappear to England rather than face his own dying, leaving her without closure or answers. She rebuilt her family alone, suppressing her own grief to hold everyone together. What she learned from those fractures has shaped sixty years of advocacy for how Australians die.
Jill carries a lesson from her childhood. At ten, she watched her father, a GP, help dying patients pass peacefully. He showed her that dying well was not just possible, it was important. She held that belief through decades of her own family's terrible deaths, then began teaching others. She ran eighteen sessions at the University of the Third Age on end-of-life planning, covering wills and palliative care and coffins, because she believes that once people accept they will die, they can finally live. She advocated for voluntary assisted dying legislation because she thinks people should have the right to choose when and how to die, not the medical system.
But Jill's work has always been about connection. She teaches older Australians that curiosity and learning don't stop, that loneliness is a choice that can be unmade, that showing up for each other matters. She mentors younger women, passing on what she knows. She knocks on doors. She asks hard questions. She listens to people's stories. And at 86, she is still discovering what she has to offer, still looking down the streets she hasn't walked yet.
⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses grief & loss, which some listeners may find distressing.
If you need support, you're not alone. Help is available: • Lifeline (24/7 crisis support): 13 11 14 · lifeline.org.au • GriefLine: 1300 845 745 · griefline.org.au
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